21 Jump Street: In Too Deep
by Immortalkaos80
Summary: Tom Hanson & the Jump Street team have been called in on a federal human trafficking case. What they don't know is that one of the agents working with the team may be a part of it and they may already be... in too deep. Read & review please!
1. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

This story is set at the beginning of season four, just after "Eternal Flame" and before "Come From The Shadows". To those who may read this, it could, quite probably, be considered drivel and maybe it is, but I wrote this for fun more than anything else. Remember… this is a complete flight of fancy. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had writing it.

Special thanks to my mom and Heather for putting up with endless brain storming sessions and a complete lack of coherency at times. Took long enough but it's written!

Of course, many thanks to the illustrious Johnny Depp for portraying Tom Hanson and to the creators of 21 Jump Street for giving us a world like this to enjoy. I promise no characters were harmed in the writing of this story…much…okay look it's not permanent…I don't think...

There is a trailer for this story. It can be seen by going to my profile page and clicking on the relevant link. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 1: Feds & Family

**Chapter 1: Feds & Family**

_**Jump Street Chapel**_

_**October, 1989**_

_**6:00pm**_

This place looked nothing like what it was. There were desks arranged about the building, file cabinets lined neatly against the walls where a space for one could be found and people manning the desks. That's where the resemblance to anything like what the place was ended. It was supposed to be a police precinct, specifically a precinct specially designed to deal with crimes involving juveniles and the undercover cops that investigated them. It was odd enough it was housed in what had once been a church, complete with stained glass windows, the personnel and décor made it even stranger.

You couldn't get five feet into it without wondering if you had just entered the secret abode of a group of rag tag teenagers. A statue of a slumped man in a suit and fedora was wedged into the corner of the foyer, on the wall just beyond graffiti was scrawled. Behind one officer's desk were pictures of Bruce Lee and Marilyn Monroe, on another's a shooting star neon lamp illuminated the area, on a nearby pole a dartboard sporting a well-placed dart through Richard Nixon's face was hung. A much used coffee pot sat precariously atop what looked like an antique Coca Cola vender that served as the station's refrigerator. Neon signs of every type imaginable hung from the ceiling and walls amid posters and advertisements against drug use, AIDS awareness, and whatever other public awareness ads the community currently had going. In short, it looked like someone had given a group of eccentric teens free reign to decorate however they saw fit.

The officer's attire didn't help to change anyone's perception of the place. You weren't going to find a police uniform in here, not unless it was someone visiting from another precinct. Instead, you'd find officers who all looked young for their age dressed in jeans, t-shirts, flannel, biker boots, sneakers, blazers, miniskirts and leather jackets. The spitting image of the kids they investigated and worked with.

Normally the chapel was bustling with activity, today it wasn't. It was a cold and rainy Friday evening just after the end of shift and every one still there was bored out of their minds. The top four officers in the Jump Street program had all been asked by their captain to stay put when everyone else had gone for the day and with nothing to do they were finding ways to amuse themselves.

Wildly good looking, dark haired and dark eyed, Tom Hanson aimed another piece of waded paper at his best friend and partner, Doug Penhall's mulleted head from the comfort of his desk chair and fired. He gave a satisfied chuckle around the ever present piece of gum he was chewing as he watched it bounce off his head. Doug had been expecting such an attack and Tom didn't have time to duck before Penhall sling shot a rubber band squarely at his nose. Giving a pained yelp from the resulting pop Tom protested loudly.

"Hey, I'm flinging balls of paper, you're doing bodily harm!" he complained one hand covering his wounded nose.

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it," Doug quipped back with a smirk.

"Well, I'm glad to see someone's having fun. I'm bored stiff," Judy Hoffs threw in from her desk beside Tom's, peering over the shooting star lamp that served as a very bad shield from their antics. She'd been hit by no less than ten errant paper wads. If her head of black curls could have drooped with her bored expression they would have.

"I'll second that," added Harry Ioki tossing the magazine he'd been reading, for the fourth time, to one side.

"What do you think Fuller has us waiting around for? We've been sitting here for two hours. I'm hungry," Doug asked letting loose another rubber band in Tom's direction. This time Tom managed to duck.

"You're always hungry Penhall," Judy joked with a grin.

"I can't help it. I'm a growing boy," Doug professed.

"Whatever it is I wish he'd hurry up. It's my bowling night," Tom said watching Doug warily for an opportunity to launch another ball of paper at him. They were fifty to forty two with Doug in the lead, there was no way he was letting Penhall win.

"You're such a nerd," Penhall shot. Tom just cast him a casually annoyed glance, he was used to hearing it by now.

"Ask and ye shall receive," called Adam Fuller from his office doorway, motioning them to join him. Dutifully they all filed in and found seats, looking at him expectantly. Slowly he sat down behind his desk, dropping a thick file on it with a thump.

"I'm sorry to have kept you all so long but you're going to have to wait a little longer. We have a new case and the FBI has sent two agents down to brief you but they have run into a few delays. They should be here shortly but I'm going to go ahead and brief you on what I know," he explained. The officers' reactions were a mix of irritation and attention. They would all do their jobs above and beyond the call of duty but they despised working with the federal government.

"Those stuffed shirts again? Now what do they want?" Doug complained openly.

"I'm not babysitting some movie star again," Tom informed them.

"That wasn't a federal case," Ioki pointed out.

"I'm just saying," Tom said, his hands up in defense.

"Just hold your horses and listen. This is a serious case," Fuller rebuked.

"It's the FBI, when is it not?" Tom shot rhetorically. Fuller leveled a warning glance at him and he clamped his mouth shut. After it seemed no one else had a snide remark he continued.

"There have been several incidents of kids going missing in the last few months and we've turned up no leads in any of them. All of them were involved in the Hunter's Gulch Community Center. The FBI thinks the disappearances may be related to a human trafficking ring they have a lead on and they are asking us to send you in along with one of their agents, who has experience in this sort of thing, to see if they can prove it," he said. Doug just couldn't keep his opinions to himself.

"Ah man, we have to go undercover with one of those guys?"

Fuller gave him the same warning look he had Tom before he went on. Doug tried to look suitably cowed and failed miserably looking disgruntled instead.

"Yes, you do. They believe a teacher from East Ridge High School named Andrew Walker, who volunteers at the community center, maybe the traffickers' inside contact. If we can catch him in the act or get him to roll over, we may be able to stop the operation," Fuller told them. The front door to the chapel slammed, bringing their conversation to a halt. Two voices could be heard arguing as whoever it was moved toward the back of the building.

"What is this place? This is completely unprofessional," complained a male voice dripping with distain.

"Get a grip Nick, it's a police precinct. So they have a little more pizazz than most. Live a little," retorted a feminine voice laced with rancor.

"I forgot how cold and rainy it gets up here. I'm freezing," the woman added.

"It's your fault we're late stop complaining," the man argued.

The Jump Street crew listened as the voices came closer to the office and Tom's brows pulled together. The woman's voice sounded a little familiar.

"That must be them," Fuller said, though he didn't move to greet them. They had already annoyed him being so late, let them figure out where the office was on their own.

"About time," Judy grumbled as the voices got closer.

"My fault? How is it my fault the airport lost my luggage? You're the one who made us miss our first flight because you had your ear glued to a payphone," the female voice said incredulous.

"First it was the luggage. Then there was the argument over the rental car…" the male voice began ticking off the hazards of their trip.

"You rented a Dodge Diplomat Nick. Really, why didn't we just take a taxi to police headquarters and you could have just asked to borrow a squad car." snapped the woman. The closer the voices got the more familiar the woman's voice sounded to Tom. He kept trying to place the voice with a face. It was distorted by the distance and the wall between them but he felt sure he should know that voice very well.

"Why did you have to insist on having two cars? There is nothing wrong with the one I rented," growled the man.

"It's a Dodge Diplomat of course there's something wrong with it. If you were anymore square Nick I could use you as an end table," the woman snipped. She was very obviously annoying her fellow agent and the now bitterly gleeful edge to her voice said she was taking great joy in it.

"But a BMW? Why did you have to rent a BMW?" the man pleaded and the woman laughed in ruthless pleasure at the man's aggravation. Tom knew that laugh, instantly connecting the sound to the person it belonged to, but there was no way he could possibly be right. He got to his feet to open the door and prove to himself he was imagining things.

"It can't be," he whispered.

"Can't be what?" Doug said watching him.

"Because they didn't have a Ferrari," the woman answered as Tom opened the door and stopped short. The woman on the other side of the threshold paused, her hand out to open the door from her side. They both stared back at each other in shock speaking at the same time in disbelief.

"Tommy?"

"Katie?"

**#**#**

Tom stood there with his jaw dropped, unable to get his voice to work again. The woman didn't look like she knew what to do, flushing a deep scarlet. Finally she managed to choke out words.

"You, ah, look great," she stammered taking in Tom's well-fitted button down shirt and jeans, the small hoop earrings hung from his ears and the rakish haircut. Tom looked her up and down his shock turning into unveiled anger. She had the same sable hair he did, bound back at the nape of her neck in an intricate tail. Deep sepia eyes that mirrored his, gazed widely back at him from a face that looked too young for its age. She was dressed in a form fitting pants suit that was definitely not regulation and if it had been on any other woman he'd have been looking for a way to ask her out for dinner.

"I take back what I said about stuffed shirts," muttered Doug admiring the woman Tom was staring down.

"_You_ look like a _fed_," he snapped with a sneer and the woman's face fell. The man she had come in with pushed his way past in a huff and glared at them both. He was at least five years older than his partner and with his short cropped blonde hair and standard issue suit; he could have been the poster boy for the FBI. The rest of the room's occupants looked on with raised eyebrows and blatant curiosity.

"I take it you two have already met?" Adam said mildly.

"Something like that," Tom answered his eyes never leaving the lock they held on Katie's. She met him look for look but hers didn't hold the flare of anger Tom's did, it held shame.

"Forgive my partner she lacks the polish that a few more years with the FBI will give her," her partner said extending his hand to the captain.

"I bet," Tom said bitingly as he held his place in front of Katie.

"Tommy would you just let me explain?" she implored him.

"I think I get the picture," he snapped. The man ignored them continuing as if they weren't there.

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Agent Nick Raines. That is my partner Kat Hanson," he said as Fuller shook his out stretched hand.

"Hanson? You got a wife you didn't tell me about?" Doug asked bewildered. Both Tom and Katie's heads swiveled around to look at him with disgust.

"No! She's my cousin!", "No! He's my cousin!" They both proclaimed at the same time.

"Okay, sorry," Penhall held his hands up in apology taken aback by the force of the proclamation.

"You have a cousin?" Ioki asked in surprise.

"I didn't even know he had an aunt and uncle," Judy added in just as much awe as the rest of them. Tom kept his private life private and close to his chest. This wouldn't be the first time they'd been surprised by something from his past popping up at the least expected moment.

"Yeah," Tom said softly and wedged himself out the door past Katie, heading for the exit. He was too angry and too surprised to deal with this right now. The word 'disappointed' didn't even begin to cover the way he felt about his cousin. What could possibly have possessed her to become an FBI agent? It went against everything she or he had been raised to believe. Police and federal law enforcement didn't get along. The police couldn't even get along with their own Internal Affairs Department and neither could the FBI. How were they supposed to get along with anyone else?

He felt angry and betrayed. He hadn't heard from her in over a year almost two. The last time he had seen her had been at her college graduation and then she just pops in and drops that bombshell on him with no warning. She was supposed to be conducting research at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington D.C for a study on criminal psychology not traipsing around with the FBI.

"Hanson get back here!" Fuller called after him but Tom kept going snatching his blazer from his desk chair as he passed. Katie sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Excuse me," she said racing after him. Everyone watched her dart away with something like embarrassment. This was an awkward situation to say the least.

"I wonder if she's single?" Doug asked no one in particular and was rewarded with annoyed sighs from his coworkers. Penhall was never one to miss out on the chance to date a pretty woman, no matter what the circumstances were.

Katie dodged around desks and chairs clumsily, managing to catch Tom by the elbow as he shouldered on his jacket.

"Tommy please just let me explain," she pleaded. He nailed her with another infuriated glare.

"What is there to explain Katie? You supposedly disappeared to D.C to do research work for more than a year without a word. I had to find out the hard way. When I called you your number had been disconnected so I called Uncle Mike and he tells me you've moved and barely ever speak to him and Aunt April. He gave me a number to reach you and you never returned my calls. You lied to your father; does he even know you've joined the FBI Katie? What about Aunt April? I know she would have never condoned it. You've gone over to the other side. Did you think you could hide it forever? Just forget your whole family?" he said with barely contained outrage waving his hands around accusingly.

"The other side? Tommy that's not fair. I didn't want you to be mad at me," she implored him to understand.

"You could have told me damn it. I'm not mad, I'm disappointed. Both of our fathers are cops. If you wanted to go into law enforcement why didn't you join the force?" he growled.

"It's not like that. Yes, you are mad. I didn't tell you because I couldn't. I've only been back in the country six months. I spent a year undercover. I couldn't tell anyone," she explained.

"You could have called!" Tom spat unable to come up with a better response. He knew better than most that a single word could break your cover much less a phone call. He couldn't argue that with her but it didn't help to assuage his anger

"No I couldn't. I didn't know you were part of this division. I don't want to be here, not like this," she said gently. Tom ground his teeth in anger mistaking her phrasing to mean she hadn't wanted to run into him at all.

"Then why are you?" he asked with a clipped tone.

"Because I have no choice," she answered her expression forming into one of profound sorrow. He noticed and his brows drew closer together in concern. Something wasn't right here and he wanted to know why.

"Why not?" he asked his voice softening just a bit, he never could stay mad at her long. They were both only children, only three months apart in age, with him being the eldest. They had traded summer vacations together for as long as they could remember. He would spend one with her and his aunt and uncle in Florida and she would spend the next here with him and his parents. Those vacations had resulted in a relationship as close as any he thought he could have had with a sister. He couldn't help being hurt by her sudden desertion and deliberate deception.

"I swear I will tell you everything later. Can we just go back in the office and finish discussing the case?" she asked her voice little more than a whisper. She didn't really want to explain, at least not all of it and planned to avoid discussing it as long as possible. But she knew he'd eventually have the story out of her one way or another. Tom blew a frustrated breath out of his nose and stubbornly stood his ground but after a few moments he relented, taking his jacket off again and tossing it on his desk.

"Fine," He breathed and stalked back to the office dropping down into his seat and pointedly ignoring the odd looks his coworkers and Katie's partner gave him. Katie followed behind him, her expression reserved.

**#**#**

"Can we continue?" Captain Fuller asked after they had gotten settled. Tom said nothing in response crossing his arms sullenly and refusing to meet Katie's eyes like a petulant child. He might have agreed to hear the rest of the case information but he didn't have to like it and he didn't have to pretend to.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry about that. Officer Hanson and I have some personal issues we have to work out. It won't be a problem," Katie apologized. Tom flinched like he'd been slapped but was quick to hide it. Never had Katie called him anything but Tommy. It didn't sound right for her to call him anything else. There were very few people that got away with calling him that, just like she allowed very few to call her Katie. To everyone else she was Kat or Katherine, or now, Agent Hanson. Her sudden formal tone struck a raw nerve making him feel slightly guilty for his bout of temper.

"It better not be," said Nick Raines firmly. Katie gave him a silent unblinking look, the same one Tom often used when someone was pushing their luck. Nick cleared his throat nervously and returned to the original conversation.

"Anyway, have you briefed your officers about the case?"

"Some of it. Why weren't either of your names on the paper work that was sent over?" the Captain asked. If they had been he would have long since asked Tom about Katie's name. It smacked of trouble.

"That was an error. Agent Hanson was supposed to fax all that over, apparently she forgot to include a page," Nick tried explaining.

"Don't blame it on me Nick. You know damn well you were the one who was supposed to do it. You're the senior agent, I'm not the one who's inept," Katie growled.

"Are you contradicting me Agent Hanson? What is that supposed to mean?" Nick reprimanded her.

"Yes I am and you know _exactly_ what it means," she said her voice dropping an octave.

"Agent leave your personal issues at home, they have no place in the field," Nick snapped back.

Katie took exactly one casual step toward him. Tom knew the smoldering look in her eyes, the misguiding casual stance. She had inherited more than his dark good looks, she also had his temper.

"Don't push it Raines," she breathed and Tom knew if her partner so much as opened his mouth to utter a comeback she would cold cock him. So did Nick, swallowing his anger he backed down. Apparently he had experienced her brand of temper before.

That little exchange pulled Tom completely out of his dark mood. Now there was something to wonder about. He could already tell something wasn't right and to openly defame each other in front of police officers was entirely outside of procedure. There was animosity there and he had a feeling it ran a lot deeper. She had always been a spit fire but she had never been disrespectful, not without a reason.

Captain Fuller tapped the edge of his desk losing patience with the whole thing. He had very little tolerance for unprofessional behavior when it came to something like this and right now he felt more like he was watching a showdown on the local playground than working with the federal government's elite. The rest of the room tried to act as if they hadn't seen it, fidgeting with anything so they didn't have to look like they had been watching.

"Okay… Agent Raines why don't you finish briefing us? I had just told them who Andrew Walker is," he supplied throwing the man a line and hoping he would take it before anything else could go wrong.

"Very well, what we believe is that Mr. Walker is acting as a contact for a procurer of a human trafficking ring. We have no idea who the procurer is. That's why we need you to go undercover and find out. Walker is guilty as sin already if he is tipping the procurer off about potential targets for human trafficking but this goes a lot higher than him. We need to find the procurer before they manage to take any more kids and shut the whole thing down," the man said grabbing the thread of words as fast as Adam could have hoped for, though he had taken longer to say the same thing Fuller had just told them. They politely refrained from telling him so.

"So they are kidnapping kids to sell to parents willing to pay for them?" Judy asked shifting back into a down to business tone.

"That's one aspect of human trafficking but that's not what we think we're dealing with. Baby and kid selling to would be parents is illegal and morally wrong but at least the people doing it wanted a child of their own. We're talking about an entirely different aspect here. Human trafficking is modern slavery, selling primarily women and children as sex slaves or men, women and children into forced labor," Katie broke in keeping her flare of anger in check and becoming a professional again. Ioki looked distinctly uncomfortable; he didn't have to ask what she meant. Having grown up in Vietnam he knew exactly what she was talking about. He'd seen it, though he had been lucky enough never to experience it.

"So that's the part we're dealing with? People selling these kids as slaves?" Doug asked not bothering to hide his repulsion of the idea.

"Yes, but we think we have a particular kind going on here. Normally immigrants, minorities, poor drug addicts and homeless victims are taken. Anyone that society won't miss or won't care about. But there are a few rings who deal in special orders. Someone gives the seller a description of what they want and then the seller has the procurer find whatever it is they are looking for. It's not uncommon for these orders to include kids from middle class families, kids they would never try for under other circumstances," Katie answered moving to sit on the arm of Tom's chair. He wondered if it was because he was the only person in the room she knew or if there was something else to it but kept his attention on the conversation.

"And that's what you think is happening here? How do you know?" Captain Fuller asked, this girl couldn't be any older than her cousin, how did she know that much about human trafficking?

"Yes I do. I know because this is what I'm trained in. I'm a criminal psychologist. Andrew Walker shows all the ear marks associated with the type of personality that would be involved in this. He comes from a lower income family and was never very good at his job as a teacher. Unless it's kids, he's pretty antisocial. He's thirty five and he's never married, he doesn't date. Four months ago he started volunteering at Hunter's Gulch Community Center and he has no prior history of humanitarian work of any kind. This guy doesn't even drop a quarter in the charity jars on convenience store checkout lanes. This would give him a perfect opportunity to line his pockets with more money than most of us will ever see in a life time," she explained.

"You're a shrink?" Doug asked in surprise, neither he nor Tom particularly cared for shrinks. Every time they wound up in the department's counseling office they made every excuse possible not to be there however ridiculous it might be.

"No she's not a shrink. She's a profiler," Tom corrected stashing his personal emotions to be dealt with later. The conversation did something to relieve some of it, gave him something else to focus on. Captain Fuller nodded with faint approval, she was winning back his respect as a fellow professional. You didn't get recruited by the FBI as a criminal psychologist this young if you hadn't worked long and hard to get there.

"Right, I don't make people lie on couches and tell me about their past lives. I study criminals and their behavior. What I learn lets me make profiles of the characteristics most commonly associated with a set of crimes or to predict what a given criminal will do next. It's not a perfect science but ninety nine percent of the time it's dead on," she finished.

"We think he gets close to these kids, gets them to get involved at the community center and then tips off the procurer who kidnaps them. They're out of the country within seventy-two to ninety-six hours, making it nearly impossible to find them again. He's probably targeting kids that fit the orders he's given who exhibit low self-esteem even minor drug problems. It makes them an easier mark and easier to control. Two of the six kids that have disappeared went to his school and fit that profile," Raines added.

"So which one of you is going in with us?" Ioki asked as the real work of sorting out their priorities in the case came to bear.

"I am. Nick would never pass as a high school student. He's here as back up and to run the surveillance equipment. Once we get in we'll be bugging Walker's classroom, the community center if we can and I'd love to get into his house," Katie said.

"No you aren't," Tom said suddenly. He might be angry at her but familial instinct took precedent.

"What? Why, because I'm your cousin? It can't be because I'm a girl. I'm sure you don't give your partner there that line," Katie scoffed nodding her head in Judy's direction.

"That's not the point!" he protested, he knew she had him dead to rights, what else could he say?

"Yes it is," Katie quipped and quirked a sideways grin at him. She loved nothing more than to push his buttons, she always had. She had spent a meticulous amount of time driving him insane a kid. She absolutely reveled in it. Not that he didn't know what buttons to push to make her just as crazy and took just as much pleasure in it as she did. There was some unspoken rule that family had to drive each other batty, he was sure of it.

"Why can't Raines go in as a teacher?" he asked.

"Because, this man isn't going to trust another teacher as far as he can throw him. These are very tight lipped people Officer Hanson. He isn't going to risk tipping off anyone to what he's up to; in fact no one may have made the connection if we hadn't recognized the signs and suspected a human trafficking ring of working in this area already. There's nothing overt to tie him to these kidnappings. Don't take this lightly, these people are dangerous. Do not break cover for any reason unless you intend to take him down when you do. He will kill you," Raines cut in perturbed. Tom glared at the man but said nothing. He was right. Tom didn't like it but he was right.

"Hanson and…Hanson," Fuller said realizing how funny it sounded as he did, "You'll be going in as sibling foster kids. Run of the mill average students, lower middle class with a minor drug problem. The rest of you will be going in as back up, keep low and keep an eye on Hanson and…Hanson. They're the bait. You start on Monday," he informed them passing out much lighter versions of the file on his desk to his officers.

"This just gets better and better. Siblings?" Tom complained as they all rose and shuffled out of the room. This was becoming unbelievably convoluted. Cousins going undercover as brother and sister in a high school, next they'd have a movie producer knocking on the door to write a script for a TV movie about it or worse a TV series.

"I don't like it any better than you do but sibling sets are a rare commodity and highly sought after by some of the less savory clientele that patronizes these trafficking rings. If we want them to try and grab us we've gotta make it look tasty," Katie sighed.

"That's just sick," Tom answered.

"You have no idea," Katie said, the answer carrying a great deal more weight than it required, before turning her attention to Judy who offered her hand to her. Tom quirked his brows at it but said nothing…yet.

"Well, since we didn't have the chance to be introduced before I'm Judy Hoffs."

Katie took her hand shaking it firmly with a cordial smile.

"Nice to meet you Officer Hoffs."

"Detective," corrected Doug as he came up to the gathering knot.

"Sorry, Detective Hoffs," Katie corrected.

"Don't worry about it. Judy or Hoffs is fine by me," Judy said brushing it off with a bubbly flip of her hand.

"In that case, call me Kat or Hanson… but that might get a bit confusing," Katie joked. Doug maneuvered his way in to extend his hand in greeting and Katie shook it, hers disappearing in the big man's like a child's.

"I'm Doug Penhall. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I never knew Hanson had such a pretty cousin," Penhall said flirtatiously. Katie's eyebrows shot up in surprise at his forwardness and she smiled.

"Penhead works too," Tom shot wedging himself between the two of them as inconspicuously as possible, casting Doug looks that could kill. He did not want his partner hitting on his cousin. He might be his best friend but he was also a dog when it came to women, always looking for the next big thing. That was all good and well when the woman in question wasn't his cousin. Doug gave him a dirty look for his trouble.

"Harry Ioki, same rule applies. We don't put much stock in formality around here," Harry said poking his hand out to be shook. Katie shook his hand and tried not feel like she was at a political function where she had to shake hands with every person of importance that passed by.

"Noted Harry," she said as the captain took his turn. Raines shook their hands in turn, nodding curtly but he refrained from any friendly banter, obviously a strictly by the book type.

"Captain Adam Fuller."

Katie was careful to mark that he had used his rank and assumed he preferred it that way. She shook his hand and inclined her head.

"Pleased to meet you Captain. I'm sorry for the, uh, confusion before. Things have been a little hectic and running into Tom where I least expected him kind of threw me," she said.

"I've lived here my whole life and you weren't expecting to run into me?" Tom quipped. Katie glared at him in annoyance. He couldn't help but grin. If she could push his buttons he could push hers. Turnabout was fair play.

"Don't worry about it; I've had a few flights from hell myself. The resemblance between you two is amazing, passing yourselves off as siblings should be no problem," Fuller added ignoring the jib from Tom and dismissing her concerns over the awkward display from before. However, he certainly hadn't forgotten it. He was more than a little concerned about her and Raines open malice toward each other. It didn't make sense to send two agents into the field who couldn't say a civil word to each other, something about that rubbed Fuller the wrong way.

"That's not the first time we've heard that," Katie laughed.

"Well guys, that's all for now. Look over those files, get your personas in order and see you Monday," Fuller announced. With business taken care of Katie looked like she was ready to bolt. shifting her weight from one foot to the other and casting furtive glances in the direction of the door. Tom knew why, she had no intention of explaining anything to him if she could get out of it. He'd known her too long not to recognize it. She'd done the same thing every time she'd been in trouble as a kid. Tom moved toward the door, fully intending to intercept her before she could disappear.

"We just have to go get checked in at the Hyatt. We didn't have time to earlier. I need to check with the airport and see if my luggage has turned up. I have a couple of changes of street clothes but nothing else so I'll see you guys later," she said trying to make a hasty exit before Tom could ask to go with her. She could tell by the way he moved that was exactly what he intended to do. Before Tom could catch her she turned and did everything but run out of the chapel, leaving him standing there with his hands in his pockets and the notion that whatever it was she wasn't explaining it was a lot more than she had hinted at. She had left Nick to find his own way to the hotel, he looked none too pleased by it either.

The sound of BMW tires squealing on wet pavement followed shortly after, marking her hasty departure. There was uncomfortable silence for a moment before Adam decided now was as good a time as any to broach his concerns.

"Agent Raines, is there anything we should know about you and your partner? You two seem to have a very volatile relationship." Adam asked. Nick looked surprised at the question and maybe, if Tom wasn't misreading the man's face, a little nervous. Why would that question make him nervous? Given their behavior, all of them had every right to wonder about the stability of working with either of them. Two agents who couldn't get along could prove to be a deadly liability in the field.

"No, Hanson just has a few – unresolved—issues. Nothing that will affect her performance on the case I assure you. Kat is just a bit," Raines paused looking for a word to fit. "High strung. Besides, I'll only be working the surveillance end. So there won't be any conflict in the field."

"Katie isn't high strung," Tom said sharply with a frown. His cousin had never been high strung a day in her life. Katie was usually as laid back as they came unless you gave her a reason not to be.

"Officer Hanson, you haven't seen Kat in over a year. People change," Nick informed him with a knowing grin. Without another word he turned on his heel and marched out the door.

"Something's not right, Katie isn't high strung," Tom said shaking his head.

"You haven't seen her in a long time Hanson. He's right. People change maybe she's not the girl you used to know," Judy suggested. Tom shook his head again fervently.

"No way," he insisted.

"Then you had better find out what's not right before it lands us all in hot water," Adam suggested.

Tom couldn't have agreed with him more. He waited long enough they wouldn't notice and then took his own car and followed them to the Hyatt. If Katie was so set on avoiding him, he'd just have to make sure she couldn't, whether she liked it or not.


	3. Chapter 2: Everything Left Unspoken

**Chapter 2: Everything Left Unspoken**

The room was well appointed. Its Damascus drapes, 18th century oak desk with finely wrought scrollwork and silk throw pillows in muted tones lent it an opulent feel that stood in marked contrast to its occupant. The room's current resident crushed out the last of many cigarettes and moved to answer the brain rattling jangle of the phone. He knew who it was. Only one person would dare to call him at home at this hour. Carefully he picked up the handset and spoke in a slow deliberate voice.

"Yes?"

The voice on the other end was tinny and distant, barely contained worry adding a hesitant tone to it. He could tell the call was being made from a payphone, the dull industrial roar of traffic hummed in the background giving the voice its own score.

"We may have a problem."

"Why is that?" the man asked keeping his voice deceptively level. He did not make a habit of raising his voice to his subordinates. He didn't have to. His record of swift retribution for not doing their jobs saw to that.

"Things aren't going as planned," the voice on the other end of the line muttered fearfully. The man paused deciding on the best course of action. This was not the first time this particular person had failed to execute a plan without problems. It had happened multiple times over the last year and a half and his patience was growing thin.

"Then I suggest you see to it that any problems are eliminated. Do not screw this up again or this time it will be _your_ neck," he instructed. He didn't need to elaborate on what he meant. The person on the other end knew better than most exactly what it meant. There was nervous breathing on the line before the voice responded with a stutter.

"Yes, sir."

**#**#**

Katie stepped out of the shower in the small bathroom of her hotel room, wrapped a plush oversized towel around herself and began to dry her hair with another. When her tresses were suitably less damp than before she tossed the towel carelessly onto the closed toilet seat and leaned on the sink lip with a remorseful sigh. As she had so many times in the last several months she stood there listening to the sound of her heart beat in her ears, contemplating the tiny creases and wrinkles of her hands, there seemed to be so many more of them now than there had been. She stared at them for a long time, avoiding the inevitable.

Reluctantly she gave in, using the side of her hand to wipe away the steamy condensation from the mirror and peered back at the person in the reflection. She looked the same as she did. Same dark hair and fine boned face but she didn't know her. She wasn't sure she ever had. The eyes in the reflection didn't hold the spark she remembered them having, the mouth turned down into a perpetual frown more often than she recalled. Emotional turmoil lent the reflection a weathered and weary look she wasn't familiar with. Hands trembling, she traced the line of her arms, her finger tips lingering on the soft flesh of her inner elbows. She dared not turn and look at her reflection in reverse; she had learned she couldn't bare it. Katie shut her eyes in silent self-deprecation before she peered back at her reflection, into eyes that looked so much like Tom's.

"Well, Katherine. How are you going to explain this one?" she asked the person on the other side of the silver sheet. It hadn't been more than a whisper but it echoed off the walls of the small space, reverberating in the stillness. Unable to withstand the knowing gaze from the woman on the other side of the mirror she turned away, careful not to look behind her.

Pushing the images and memories that replayed in her head aside Katie dressed in one of the two sets of clothes she had in her carry on. She had called the airport as soon as she got settled into the room but it had done little good. The officials still hadn't been able to find her lost luggage; they couldn't even find a record where it had been put on the flight to begin with. Worse still, they had somehow managed to lose her flight information altogether. After half an hour of dancing around in well-crafted diplomatic verbal circles she'd given up and accepted the fact she was going to have to use money from their budget to purchase new clothing and personal affects. It would take too long to force the airport's hand to find hers if it could be found at all. By now it was probably sitting on a luggage belt in New Zealand.

Nick seemed to have very little concern about the whole thing. When she told him he had simply shrugged and handed her a department credit card, told her to have fun and shut his hotel room door. She hadn't really expected him to care but the nonchalance he showed now as opposed his usual vehemence was a little confusing. He'd had a fit over the second rental car and now he hoped she had a good time? What gave?

They had never been friends but they had always been able to work together well, now it took every ounce of will she had to be in the same room with him. She wouldn't say it but it had been one of the reasons she insisted on a second rental car. The kind of car had simply been to annoy him. Katie would just as soon have rented a Mustang or a Chevy but the BMW had been the most expensive on the lot.

The less time she had to spend in forced company the better. Nick didn't act as if he wanted to be in her presence anymore than she wanted to be in his. He constantly looked for a way to make her look inept and incapable. As she pulled on her jacket and stashed the car keys in the pocket she wondered how they had wound up so divided, before they had worked as a seamless team, now they hated each other. The voice that belonged to the girl in the mirror whispered that she knew exactly why they were always at each other's throats. She silenced the voice violently and ignored it. She had become quite good at it lately, it was the only thing that kept her sane any more.

She pulled open the hotel room door ready to go drown her memories and tribulations in a few beers and a meal to find Nick, poised to knock, nose to nose with her. She glared and ducked around him.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"I forgot to tell you, get a dinner dress. We have a party to go to next weekend," Nick told her.

"A party? What? You mind explaining why I should do anything with you but work?" Katie snapped in annoyance.

"It is work. The Mayor is holding a banquet dinner for the police department. It will be good for interdepartmental relations. It starts at eight," he said a note of perverse pleasure coloring his words. Katie choked on the swell of anger that threatened to pop her eardrums. The last thing she wanted to do was schmoose with a bunch of pencil pushing lawmakers while they pretended to be flattered by pretty words and stilted dancing.

"If you want to play 'I sunk your battleship' with politicos why don't you do it yourself? I signed up to save people's lives not help get special interests groups to line my pocket or yours. By then we'll already be undercover. Have you lost your mind having us ditch our assignment for a publicity opportunity? What if we get our pictures taken and they end up in the paper? It'll blow the whole case!" She spat stalking down the hallway for the elevator. Nick followed casually, hands buried in his pockets and a smirk on his face.

"You don't have a choice. It comes with the job. I'm the senior agent, if I say we go, we go. Keep your head down and pretend to be camera shy."

"Pretend to be camera shy? Are you trying to get me killed? Are you trying to get anyone I'm undercover with killed? How do you avoid fifty shutter happy photographers milling around a room hoping for the front-page picture? You know I hate politics. I am not going to that banquet. I might as well shoot myself now and get it over with if I do. Maybe I don't want the job anymore," she said as she hit the call button for the elevator, tapping her foot as if that would make it arrive faster.

"You should have thought of that before you signed the dotted line Katie," he advised with an arrogant quirk of his lips. Katie stepped into the elevator and rounded on Nick as the doors shut between them.

"Don't call me that. You lost that privilege a long time ago."

Nick never saw her sag against the elevator wall as soon as the doors snapped shut. He never got to see the fear that graced a normally indomitable face. He never got to hear that voice rear its ugly head again and scream in Katie's ear against her will. _Either you tell someone or you are going to die. _

**#**#**

Tom pulled into the parking lot of the Hyatt and waited twenty minutes. He had spent the previous twenty minutes swinging by a grocery store and grabbing a bouquet of flowers. It gave him an excuse to go in there and ask what room she was in. It also helped to ply Katie with sweet favors if you wanted her to talk when she'd decided not to. He figured he had given Katie time to get into her room and get settled before he went in after her. He knew better than to chase her down like a hound after a rabbit. She'd only balk and probably slam the door in his face if he did. She was as tight lipped as he was.

He went up to the front desk and peered over it at the bookish woman sitting behind it. Tom flashed her a charming smile and leaned on the desk. She looked up at him and blushed pink. Tom knew he had her then. She'd tell him anything he wanted if he could keep her charmed.

"Hi, What room is Katherine Hanson in?" he asked. The receptionist's face fell. Tom saw it and hastily rectified it before he lost his opening.

"She's my cousin. She just got into town and I wanted to surprise her," he explained, sticking his hand over the desk and waving the bouquet of flowers for her to see.

"Tom Hanson." He introduced himself. She smiled brightly at him and shook his offered hand turning a deeper shade of pink. He'd roped her back in.

"Oh that's so sweet of you. Let me get the room number for you," she said flipping through a roster of occupants and casting him a flirtatious look. Tom just smiled back sweetly.

"Ah, here we go. Room three fifteen. Oh wait, there she is," the woman said looking up and over the desk toward the elevators. Tom's head snapped around to see Katie making her way out of the elevator through the lobby toward the parking lot. He pulled one of the flowers out of the bouquet and handed it to the receptionist.

"Thanks," he told her and dashed after Katie before she could make it to her car. The receptionist sat there watching him go, her nose buried in the flower with a wistful expression on her face.

He caught her just as she made it out of the lobby doors and her feet hit pavement. He snagged her elbow to keep her from going any further and she whipped around as if she were on wheels. Tom immediately held up his hands and stepped back, struck by the look on her face. It was stark terror.

"It's me!" he proclaimed before she could swing at him. He'd learned years ago that if you scared her she fought… or slammed doors on your nose breaking it. He'd tried to scare her as a joke one summer in the middle of the night during a thunder storm. She'd screamed so loud it had woke her parents and then slammed the door on him. He'd spent a week with a nose splint on after that incident.

Katie let out a relieved sigh and slumped a little, one hand to her chest where her heart still raced. She slapped him on the arm in admonishment but Tom noticed she didn't laugh or smile when she did it like she always had before and her hand shook.

"You scared me half to death Tommy!" she blurted. She was still white as a sheet. Tom felt bad for giving her such a fright. Sheepishly he held out the bouquet in apology.

"These are for you."

Katie took the flowers and her face softened for a moment looking at them. Then it was replaced with one of befuddlement.

"There's only eleven," she observed. Tom knew he'd been caught and winced.

"I had to have something to bribe the receptionist with didn't I?" he confessed. Katie let out a snort of exasperation and gave him an annoyed look.

"Bribe?"

"Well yeah, you ran out of the chapel so fast I couldn't catch you. You said you would explain what it is you've been doing for the last year and a half. Remember?" he reminded her.

"And I said I'd tell you later," Katie rebuked, looking suddenly nervous as she turned and stalked toward the parked cars. Tom trotted after her, surreptitiously steering her towards his mustang. She wasn't going to just drive off again without some kind of answer.

"Yeah well. It's later," he pointed out. Katie rolled her eyes in further vexation and sighed, steadily making her way across the parking lot. Tom danced around her and kept steering her toward his car without her realizing what he was doing.

"I'm trying to go get something to eat. It's been a long day and I'm tired. Can we talk about this later later?" she pleaded.

"What do you want? I'll buy you dinner," Tom said grabbing the opening. Katie stopped walking and stared at him. He stood with his hands in his jacket pockets and waited.

"Tommy…" she began to protest, adamantly trying to avoid talking to him. Tom reached down and swung the passenger side door of his mustang open. They'd stopped exactly where he'd intended and all without her suspecting. He'd always been able to weasel her into whatever he wanted. Then again, she'd always been able to do the same thing to him. It must come from knowing each other their whole lives.

"Get in the car," he said firmly. Katie began to protest again and he pinned her with a look. Katie threw up her hands in frustration and got into the car. Tom shut the door and went around getting in the driver's side. He slammed the door, stuck the keys in the ignition and fired the car up.

"How about pizza?" he suggested as he pulled out of the parking lot. Katie only favored him with a put upon look for his troubles.

#**#

Tom had to assume that pizza was going to be good enough. Katie hadn't spoken a word since she'd gotten in the car. Instead, she stared out the window, resolutely ignoring him and drumming a nervous beat on the car door's armrest. Tom watched her, she was very anxious for someone who should have been calm and collected. What could have happened in the last year and a half that she was so apprehensive about talking about it? Did it have anything to do with why she and her partner seemed to hate each other?

He let her keep her silence all the way to the restaurant, a little place called Dino's that offered good beer, good food and good music. He parked the car, pulled the keys out of the ignition with a jingle of metal and waited. Katie didn't move, she didn't even seem to realize they had stopped. Her jaw was set and her gaze seemed focused on something much further away that the billboards visible from the parking lot.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned. She seemed to be completely wrapped up in something else and wherever it had taken her, it wasn't here. She startled at the sound of his voice and forced a wan smile.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?" she insisted her tone suddenly chipper. Tom gave her an odd look as she got out of the car to avoid discussing it further.

"Yeah right," he muttered to himself as he followed. If she was okay, he was the king of England. Tom paced her, dropping his arm over her shoulder as they pushed their way through the throng of people, looking for a table. They wedged themselves into a booth and Tom waved down a server for pitchers of beer while they decided what pizza they wanted.

On a small stage at one end of the room, a blues band was tuning up for a set. The murmur of voices and erratic guitar plucking setting the tone for the evening as the waitress returned with their beer, ready to take their orders. Katie poured herself one as soon as the pitcher was on the table, took a gulp and peered at the menu.

"I guess I want what I always want, pepperoni and sausage with extra cheese," she said to the waitress. There really hadn't been much point in looking at the menu; it was more a matter of habit than necessity. In a pizza place, what else were you going to order? But, it gave her a reason to hide behind the flimsy paper barricade. She was quaking inside; terrified Tom would notice her demeanor was all an act and call her on it. Frankly, she thought he already knew it was a sham but she did not intend to give up the game unless he forced her too. She did not want to talk about the last year and a half, not to Tom or anyone else.

"I'll have the same," Tom told the waitress, handing her the menu he hadn't bothered to look at. He'd been too busy staring at the back of Katie's menu and trying to figure out what it was that had her so edgy. He poured himself a beer and then reached over and pulled the menu she hadn't given back down so he could talk to her and not a piece of cardboard.

"So, did you have any luck finding your luggage?" he asked starting with something causal and nonthreatening. Katie looked like she was ready to bolt at the first sign of serious conversation. He saw the relief flicker in her eyes that he hadn't asked her to explain where she'd been for the last year and a half. There was definitely something wrong here.

"Nope, they haven't just lost my luggage; they even lost the flight information. I swear they hire those people with blinders on. Trying to track down lost luggage is worse than trying to get a bill passed in the senate," Katie said setting down the menu and pulling off her jacket in the warmth of the restaurant. She looked much different from the envelope pushing fed the others had met earlier. Now she had her long hair loose, in nothing flashier than a V-neck sweater and jeans. That was the Katie Hanson Tom knew, not the woman in a tailored suit with a 9mm hidden in a shoulder holster. All but the frightened glint in her eye, she kept trying to disguise. Tom had known her too long not to see something was wrong. No matter how valiantly she tried to veil it.

"Maybe it'll turn up," Tom said Katie shrugged in answer.

"Yeah maybe."

From there they engaged in small talk, trading idle facts back and forth about anything but what they both knew they were here to talk about. What the last movie they saw was, how cold the weather was, nothing that mattered. Tom let the idle conversation go on, watching as Katie worked her way through four slices of pizza and a whole pitcher of beer within an hour. Katie had never been one to drink heavily and it was the first blatant confirmation he had that there was something definitely wrong.

Obviously, she was trying to drown it but Tom knew what she didn't, sorrows float. The chatter died into awkward silence as he sat there fingering the edge of the red and white striped place mat in front of him. Katie nursed her beer and stared into the golden liquid like she was searching for something. Tom had had enough, with a tap on the table he got up and held out his hand.

"Come on."

Katie looked up at him and her brow furrowed.

"What?" she said befuddled. She had been so absorbed in using her beer as a scrying glass to tell her what she should do, if she should tell him about the last year and half and if so how much, that she hadn't noticed him get up.

"Come on, let's dance," he told her, holding out his hand for hers more insistently.

"Since when do you dance unless someone forces you too?" she asked looking at him warily.

"Since now," he said beckoning her to move. She gave him a curious look and nervously looked for an excuse to refuse.

"I don't think I'm really up for it," she insisted, her voice quavering slightly despite her best attempts to keep it level.

"Humor me," Tom pressed. He was not going to give up that easily. Katie sighed in frustration but took his hand. He pulled her out onto the dance floor, slipping an arm around her waist casually, holding her close enough his head was next to hers.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" he whispered.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm having a great time. What made you think that?" she asked, lying blatantly as he swayed with her in time to the music.

"Oh I don't know. You're drinking like a fish. That might have been a clue," he answered.

"I don't want to talk about it" she pleaded. Once the question had been asked Tom wouldn't let go of it until he had an answer.

"Don't make me pry it out of you," he told her.

"I don't want to talk about it," Katie reiterated as Tom spun her out in a slow circle and pulled her back in. She was surprised she was relatively steady on her feet. She had been sure she would be so uncoordinated from the alcohol her legs would turn to jelly the second she stood up.

"Then how about you and Raines. What's the story there?" he asked.

"Nick is – abrasive. Our personalities don't mix. Let's just say he and I have agreed to disagree. He's the boss, I do what I'm told, even if I don't always agree with it, and we leave it at that. It won't be an issue during the case if that's what you're wondering," she told him hoping that would be enough to satisfy his curiosity. It wasn't.

"There's more to it than that. You don't drink yourself under the table because you want to smack your partner."

"We just don't get along. That's all. He's oil and I'm water. Randall, The Special Agent In Charge, seems to think we make a good team despite that so we're stuck with each other," she insisted, knowing that was not the most informative answer she could have given.

"Okay, so where have you been for the last year and a half?" Tom pressed, she was being deliberately evasive and he knew it.

"I have to give you something or you aren't going to let it go are you?" Katie sighed.

"Yeah, pretty much."

She knew she would have to tell him the truth, at least part of it, or he would keep on about it like a dog with a bone. It was part of what made him such a good cop. Tom Hanson never let something get away from him once he had it in his sights. She had been afraid he would see right through her act. He knew her too well.

"I suppose I should begin from the beginning," she said with a sardonic chuckle.

"That's usually the place," Tom joked back, giving her a disarming smile.

"About three months before graduation several agents from the FBI showed up at my college. They interviewed every student with a criminal psychology major saying they needed to recruit someone who looked younger and who was good enough to work the case they had. A human trafficking ring they hadn't been able to get into. It came down to me and two others. I scored higher on my finals and they asked me to do it," she explained as he listened intently, her voice flat as she could make it least she let her emotions get the better of her. She paused trying to decide what she should and shouldn't tell him.

"And?" Tom prodded in a low voice when the wait became too long.

"They wanted someone to go in with another agent, someone who knew how their minds worked. I went undercover as a homeless kid and Raines went in as the guy who wanted to sell me to the traffickers. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was just trying to save lives. I do know how those criminals' minds work and I couldn't imagine not helping when I had the chance. I didn't plan it this way. It's just how it happened," she finished.

"But the FBI Katie? CID? You were already part of this when you graduated? Why didn't you tell me then?" he whispered.

"It was classified Tommy. I couldn't tell you. You're an undercover cop you should understand that," she said.

"I do. I just… you could have told me. It's not like I would have said anything," he told her softly.

"I know," she answered sadly, resting her head on his shoulder as they danced.

"It takes almost six months to go through FBI training Katie. Even then they wouldn't have put you in the field without you shadowing an experienced agent for a while. If you were undercover for a year and you've been back in the states for six months that doesn't leave enough time for you to have completed the training much less to have gotten any field experience before you went undercover since you graduated from The University of Virginia," he pointed out. The FBI was known for its 'highly' trained operatives. He'd never heard of one being pushed through and initiated into the fold with trial by fire. It was just too dangerous to send an unprepared agent into the field. They might get themselves killed and anyone they were working with, on top of blowing the case. It didn't make sense.

"They pushed me through. We were pressed for time to catch these guys before they moved," she explained. It sounded as lame as she knew it was. It wasn't an outright lie but it didn't have enough of the truth in it to make it sound solid.

"If you have been back for six months, why didn't you call?" he pressed, trying for that little bit more he might get. He had an even deeper feeling there was more to all of this now. She had both arms wrapped around him like she was sinking and he was the only anchor in sight.

"It's classified," she answered her voice cracking slightly. She tried to hide it by clearing her throat but he caught it. She knew that had been a lie, she just couldn't stomach telling him everything. She couldn't stomach thinking about it, how was she supposed to tell him?

"Katie…" he started.

"It's classified. I'm under a gag order not to talk about it," she reiterated. He blew out a long suffering breath. Classified, of course it was classified. When was anything _not_ classified when you involved the federal government?

"That's all I'm getting, isn't it?" he asked his tone accepting for the moment.

"That's all you're getting."

"None of that explains why you've been trying to drink your weight in beer all night," he pointed out.

"It's going to have to be enough," Katie insisted. Tom sighed dejectedly. He knew something was wrong and unless she was willing to tell him what it was, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Alright," he assented.

Tom could have long since ended the dance but she didn't seem to want to let go so he let her hold on. He could tell that whatever it was she wasn't telling him had her scared. It hung in ever lull in conversation, in the way she held on to him like a frightened child, in the terrified glitter in her eyes that she tried so hard to hide. They danced that way without speaking for well over an hour before he took her back to the hotel.

He tried once more to get her to open up. She'd given him answers but not one of them gave him the answer he was looking for.

"Katie, please talk to me," he pleaded, his dark hair falling into his eyes as he leaned toward her in entreaty.

"I can't," she said with a dismal shake of her head.

"Why not? Something has you scared out of your skin. Is it Raines?" he asked desperately. He thought he'd hit on something, at the mention of Raines' name she sucked in a breath and cast him a petrified glance. As quickly as he'd seen it, it was gone again but he didn't doubt what he saw. Whatever it was Raines was part of it.

"Leave it alone Tommy. Please," she said in a somber voice and got out of the car, refusing to meet his eye. She paused as if she meant to say something.

"Change your mind?" Tom asked hopefully. Katie didn't even turn around, she let out a ragged breath, straightened her back like she was about to go to war with the devil himself and shook her head.

"Nothing. I just…it's nothing," she said before she quickly walked off leaving Tom staring at her retreating form through the space the open door left. She hadn't even bothered to close it when she got out.

Tom had no way of knowing that in those few moments Katie had debated telling him everything that had happened over the last year and a half and again chosen not to. She was too afraid, too ashamed. Too terrified that if she did, she'd take him down with her. What Tom did know beyond the shadow of a doubt was that something wasn't just wrong with Katie, something had her scared out of her wits and he suspected Raines was at the center of it.


	4. Chapter 3: Thinking In The Dark

**Chapter 3: Thinking In The Dark**

Tom tried to go home. He parked his car, went up to his apartment, laid on his couch with one leg thrown over the arm while channel surfing but the sight of Katie walking away from him kept haunting him. He found himself going through an old photo album and stopped when he found the picture he was looking for. He pulled it loose from the tabs that held it in place and smiled.

Katie's fifteen year old face smiled back at him, over his own fifteen year old shoulder. He had Katie on his back, half bent in the effort. Katie had both arms flung around his neck, a baseball pennant dangling from her hand. Their mouths were open in laughter, the summer sun shining behind them through a fringe of trees. Katie's hair was permed in frizzy curls, teased high in a ponytail. A Joan Jett and the Blackhearts tee shirt tied at her hip over jeans and sneakers. He was wearing a polo shirt, jeans and loafers, his hair parted in the same style he'd started the force wearing. It had been taken the summer before his father died, and they stood frozen in a wild moment of carefree joy, celebrating their team's victory. His father was the one behind the camera, trying to get the picture while he attempted to keep the after game celebratory hot dogs on the grill from burning.

Looking at it, he noticed that the girl in the picture no longer resembled the woman who'd walked away from him only an hour ago. The bright smile and vibrant eyes on the girl in the picture were gone now. Something tugged at him and he felt a pang of bittersweet nostalgia. What had happened to change her? Where had the carefree spitfire riding on his back gone? He looked at the clock on his side table and sighed at the white numbers that stared back at him. Two in the morning. Tom gave in to impulse, he grabbed his trench coat and keys, stashing the photo in his coat pocket and locked the door behind him.

He had intended to drive, somewhere, anywhere just to give him time to think then changed his mind and decided to walk. He shivered as he treaded the wet sidewalks of Metropolis, hands buried in his pockets against the chill, his fingers tracing the edge of the photo in his pocket. The weather had started to turn even colder than it had been. Soon the wet pavement would start to ice, by morning there would be icicles hanging from the tree branches. It was unseasonably cold, October meant highs around fifty with rain as often as not. If this kept up it would be snowing before November.

Tom didn't know if he was walking because he needed to think or if he was doing it because he was trying to out run the thoughts in his head. He let his mind shuffle and arrange the errant ideas into ordered bits of information as he went. The sound of late night traffic and the bright spots cast off by street lamps, neon signs and the occasional illumination from a building window acted as unconscious homing beacons as he kept turning the last several hours over in his memory. Looking for anything that might have been a subliminal cue to what was going on.

He knew something had Katie terrified but he didn't know what or why. It unsettled him to know something was wrong and not be able to do something about it. He hated feeling helpless. He knew in his gut that Raines was involved in it and he had a good notion it was why they were at each other's throats. Only, all he had to go on were hunches.

Tom preferred facts to intuition but he'd played a hunch before. He wasn't above paying attention to the voice that whispered in his head that there was much more than Katie was letting on and that the 'more' was going to be very bad. He just didn't know what to do about it. The only thing he hated more than feeling helpless was not knowing what to do about it.

#**#

Katie left Tom sitting in the parking lot with an expression of complete frustration on his face. She hadn't needed to look back to know it was there. She couldn't look back, if she had, she knew she would have broken down and told him everything and then where would they be?

_Dead_, whispered the woman from the mirror with her lifeless and haunted eyes. Katie made her way up to her room in silence, fumbling the keys when she tried to slip them in the lock because her hands shook. She could just barely hear the thrum of a one sided conversation coming from Nick's room. The pitch kept rising and falling as if he were arguing with someone but she couldn't make out what was being said. She could have knocked on his door, tried to find out who he was talking to but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She couldn't face him anymore than she had been able to tell Tom what she burned to tell him. She wished she dared to but at the same time, she knew she couldn't. She wasn't even sure what she hurt so badly to tell him had an credence. She had her suspicions, suspicions so strong they'd driven her to obsession trying to prove she wasn't jumping at shadows.

Fear of those shadows built inside her until she couldn't sit still. She paced the room in a cold sweat, her frantic journey punctuated by the dull sound of Nick's muffled conversation in the next room. Self-deprecation and shame soon joined the fear, opening floodgates to memories she fought everyday to keep buried. They rattled around inside her head driving her mad. It finally became unbearable and she began looking for a way to silence them.

She knew a way, she thought, her hands unconsciously going to her inner elbows, clutching them until her nails left crescents through the thick fabric of her sweater and igniting the hunger for oblivion she thought she had beaten. It wouldn't be hard, she could walk right back out the door and find exactly what her brain screamed at her it wanted. Then the memories would stop, quelled for a while by the temporary peace her brain cried it needed. She fought the desire to give in, burying her head in her hands as she paced until the silent screams and memories got so loud she could hear nothing else.

The screams locked in her head gave way to a single inarticulate wail of despairing frustration. If Raines heard it, he gave no indication. His conversation had stopped and now only quiet sounded back. Of course, Katie didn't expect him to come running to see what the scream was about but the hotel staff might and the last thing she needed was the employees making a scene. She clenched her hands into fists and battled the desire to just sink to the floor where she stood and scream until her voice gave out. She had to do something, either she submitted to the whispering voice in her head or she fed her obsession.

Flinging open the closet door, she rummaged in her carryon bag for the vessel of that obsession. She found it in the form of a six-month-old, five-inch thick file of papers. All carefully marked and noted with her neat, even script. She sat down on the floor in front of the open closet and began rifling through it, stopping at the last place she had left off and tried to lose herself in the diagrams, notes and figures printed there.

Six months worth of terrified suspicion and speculation bled from the pages. She had gone over them so much that despite careful handling the pages were dog-eared from use. Not a day had passed since she had begun putting the file together that she hadn't read through it, searching for something to tell her she wasn't losing her mind. If she could just prove to herself that things hadn't happened the way her gut told her they had maybe the madness would stop. Maybe the fear would go away. She desperately wanted that to be true but she'd found nothing in all the time she'd been driven by her obsession. The woman in the mirror whispered that she knew if she proved anything at all, that it would be that things _had_ happened _exactly_ as she thought they had. That all her fears were true and that scared her more than anything else did.

Finally she drove herself to exhaustion and fell into an uneasy, nightmare riddled sleep, papers still clutched in her trembling hands, no closer to an answer than she had been.

#**#

Tom's feet seemed to have a mind of their own still led by the signposts of lights and signs that he paid no conscious heed to. He walked with no real purpose or direction other than deciding what to do about Katie. He kept coming back to the same conclusion. There was nothing he could do, not unless he found a way to prove what his instincts told him.

He'd been walking for at least an hour and a half and soon found himself passing something that beckoned to him. When he stopped and looked up from his contemplation, he realized he had unintentionally walked straight to Doug's apartment building. At a loss on his own, he followed his feet and made his way up to Doug's place. Maybe his friend would be able to help him figure out what to do. It wouldn't be the first time Tom had come knocking at Doug's door in the dead of night because some dilemma vexed him.

He knocked loudly and waited for an answer. None came. Tom knocked harder and heard the sound of the chain being slid loose and the dead bolt turned. Doug's sleepy eyed face started back at him in the dark of the hall way dressed in an old tee shirt that had seen better days and sweat pants.

"It's you," Doug said and stepped back from the door so Tom could come in. He rubbed at his eyes and yawned.

"Can I talk to you?" Tom asked his eyes pleading. Doug sighed and hung his head in resignation. Why his partner had a penchant for middle of the night advice sessions he'd never understand.

"What time is it?" he asked as Tom followed him and shut the door.

"Three Thirty," Tom said looking at his watch. Doug walked toward the kitchen and peered into his fridge.

"You're early," Doug quipped pulling out a soda and popping the top. He held another out to Tom but Tom shook his head. Doug shrugged and tossed the drink back in the fridge before shuffling to the couch and flopping down onto it.

"Early?" Tom asked perplexed as he dropped down into a chair opposite him.

"Yeah it's always four in the morning when you," Doug started but stopped when Tom just gave him a confused expression. He waved his hand in dismissal, "Never mind. What did you want to talk about?"

Tom leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and took a deep breath. "There's something wrong with Katie."

"Your cousin? You already said that back at the chapel Hanson," Doug observed slightly perturbed if the only reason Tom had shown up at this hour was to tell him the same thing over again.

"No, I mean something is really wrong," Tom insisted, shaking his head insistently.

"Hanson, what are you talking about?" Doug asked in frustration. From there Tom told him everything that had happened since he'd slipped out of the chapel to follow Katie to the hotel. When he'd finished Doug still looked as at a loss as he had before.

"Okay, it sounds like she got pushed through the academy and that she hates Raines as much as you hate Booker but it doesn't sound like anything's wrong," he said. Tom shook his head again looking down at the photo he'd taken out of his pocket as he talked.

"You didn't see her Doug. It's not what she said, it's what she didn't say. She's scared to death. I could see it in her eyes. That's not Katie. She said she can't tell me and when I mentioned Raines I thought her hair was going to turn white. I think she wants to and is afraid to tell me. And I think Raines is at the center of it. I just have this gut feeling."

Doug leaned his head back on the couch and pressed the can of soda to his head like a cold pack. "If she's not talking there's nothing you can do. Maybe Judy and Raines were right. You haven't seen her in a long time Hanson, maybe you don't know her anymore," Doug pointed out. Tom did everything but snarl at his partner.

"Not you too. I know Katie and something is wrong. She's afraid of Raines I can feel it. I just don't know why," Tom maintained, spreading his hands in helplessness while still clutching the photo. Doug noticed the picture and sat forward.

"What's that?" he asked motioning to the photo. Tom started, not realizing he still had the photo in his hand, he handed it over to Doug to look at. Doug laughed at it.

"You were such a dork," he joked.

"Hey!"Tom protested in mock affront. Doug's constant affirmation that he was a dork had become a running joke over the years.

"That Kat?" he asked grinning at the absurdly permed and teased hair. Tom grinned wistfully.

"Yeah. The Yankees had just beat the Red Sox, five to four. We were celebrating," he explained with a smile as Doug handed the photo back.

"You guys look happy," Doug said. Tom looked down at the photo once more, running his thumb over the two kids in the picture, the smile slipping away again.

"She's not anymore Doug," he said with a saddened shake of his head. "What am I supposed to do? Sit around and hope it gets better? I've got to do something," Tom said with conviction. Doug sighed, once Tom had something stuck in his head he wouldn't stop until he'd found a way to do whatever it was.

"Alright. You said you think she's scared of Raines. If you think he's some sort of danger you've got to tell Fuller," he said. Tom gave him a look of exasperation.

"And tell him what? That I think my cousin is scared of her partner because she didn't tell me she was and I have this gut feeling?" he quipped.

"You got me there but you're going to have to tell him some time Hanson. If she really has a reason to be afraid of him and we're undercover with him it could be dangerous for all of us," Doug admitted.

"I know and I will as soon as I have something to tell him," Tom said. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Doug spoke up again.

"Maybe you should talk to Raines. If she won't tell you maybe he will, even if he doesn't realize he's doin' it," Doug suggested. Tom's face lit up and he smiled impishly.

"Yeah. I have all kinds of questions about this case and I think only he can answer them. Don't you Doug?" he said with a renewed flush of inspiration and a tone of mock seriousness. Doug downed the last of his soda and grinned back.

"Hundreds of 'em," he said, tossing the can into a nearby trash can with a rattle.


	5. Chapter 4: Perfidious Raines

**Chapter 4: Perfidious Rain(es)**

Tom and Doug sat in Tom's car in the Hyatt parking lot and waited. It was ten in the morning and Tom still had to turn on the windshield wipers periodically to keep the condensation that gathered there from turning to frost. The temperature had dropped again but at least it had stopped raining for the moment. They were waiting for Katie to leave the hotel so she wouldn't know they were about to accost Raines in his hotel room. She'd never forgive Tom if she knew he was attempting to pry information about her out of her partner when she'd already made it clear she didn't want to talk about it.

"How do you know Kat's going to leave?" Doug asked, stuffing the remains of a Rocket Dog in his mouth. He balled the wrapper up and started to toss it in the back seat until he saw Tom looking daggers at him. Giving his partner a grin of chagrin, he put the wrapper in the bag hung on the center console for trash with exaggerated care. Tom's eyes followed him the whole way.

"Because she said she had two sets of street clothes. She wore one of them last night, she'll wear the other today and that means she's going to have to go shopping for new ones. The airport still hasn't located her luggage," Tom explained returning his gaze to the hotel entrance now that his car was no longer in danger of being sullied by errant Rocket Dog wrappers.

"Oh," Doug said licking his fingers of ketchup. Tom grimaced and shook his head in disgust.

"How do you eat those things like that? It's not human. Are you sure you aren't part troll or something?" he teased. Doug snorted in derision.

"You like 'em too!" he protested.

"Not for breakfast," Tom said.

He would have continued ribbing his partner but at that moment, he saw Katie come out of the Hotel lobby and head for her rental car. She walked rapidly, repeatedly looking back over her shoulder as if she were afraid of being followed. Again Tom was harshly reminded that the woman hastening across the parking lot bore very little resemblance to the girl in the picture still stashed in his coat pocket. Tom gripped the steering wheel in frustration. He wanted the girl in the picture back.

They waited until she got into her car and pulled away before moving. They made their way into the hotel and punched the call button for the elevator. The receptionist from the night before recognized Tom and waved coyly at him. Tom smiled back and waved as the elevator doors opened and he and Doug disappeared inside.

"It's not fair," Doug whined as the elevator made its slow way up to the third floor.

"What's not fair?" Tom asked.

"That receptionist back there was flirting with you. Women just throw themselves at you. Why do you get all the girls?" Doug complained. Tom looked his partner up and down in consideration for a moment.

"Maybe it's your eating habits," he jibbed. Doug wrinkled his nose at him.

"Oh haha, very funny. Kat's cute. Maybe I'll ask her out and it'll be me who gets the girl for a change. There's one pretty girl you can't get," Doug snipped as the elevator stopped and the doors slid open.

"Not happenin'," Tom said as they stepped out into the hallway.

"Why not?" Doug asked defensively.

"You are not dating my cousin Penhall," Tom insisted pulling himself up to his full height and standing within a hand's breadth of his partner menacingly.

"Why not?" Doug asked again in irritation.

"Because you're a dog!" Tom bit. Doug looked hurt.

"Maybe she likes dogs!" he snapped.

"No way," Tom quipped back with a shake of his head.

"It's a date Hanson. I'm not talking about marrying her!" Doug shot in exasperation.

"That's the problem," Tom shot back. If anyone had seen them, it probably would have looked hilarious. Doug was easily seventy-five pounds heavier and half a foot taller than Tom. It looked like a Chihuahua provoking a Rottweiler. Of course, the Chihuahua had been known to deck the Rottweiler on occasion. Doug chuckled as realization set in.

"You're protecting Kat…from me? Oh, that's so sweet. Aren't you just cute as a button?" he teased squeezing Tom's cheek, grinning.

"Shut up," Tom growled batting his hand away. Doug grinned harder. If anyone else had said it, he might have taken it seriously and been offended, with Tom it just made it even funnier. Tom started down the hallway in an attempt to end the conversation. Doug followed.

"We'll just have to let her decide. Won't we?" Doug poked, that grin still plastered on his face as they made it to Katie's room. They had everything planned out, they would pretend to be looking for Katie and then use that as an excuse to barrage in on Raines with all their 'pressing questions' when they 'discovered' she wasn't there.

Tom knocked loudly on Katie's door. "You aren't her type," Tom spat, and then knocked again as if he didn't know Katie wasn't there.

"Oh yeah? Then what is her 'type'?" Doug shot back. The argument would have escalated into an all out shouting match except that Tom's knocking worked as planned. Agent Raines poked his head out of his hotel room next to Katie's to see what the racket was. He looked haggard. He was dressed exactly the same as he had been the night before, save that this suit was navy blue instead of black, his hair was neatly combed into place but his eyes sported shadows beneath them and they were blood shot as if he hadn't slept.

Tom and Doug immediately cut off their argument as if it had never happened and shoved stupid smiles onto their faces. But they both exchanged a suspicious look, both noting Raines exhausted expression.

"Agent Hanson isn't in. She went shopping," Raines said with an annoyed edge to his voice when he saw who had been banging on the door. Tom and Doug acted let down that they had missed Katie.

"You know when she'll be back?" Doug asked keeping up the ruse. Raines shrugged absently.

"She has to replace the things the airline lost and get clothes for her cover so a few hours at least," he answered looking disgruntled that he was being forced to answer questions for two lowly cops.

"Oh, well we had a few questions about the case." Tom asked putting on an air of dejection that he'd have to wait to ask those questions

"I'm sure she'll be happy to answer them when she gets back. Now if you'll excuse me," Raines said and started to close the door in their face. Doug grabbed the edge, stopping him.

"You're the senior agent. Maybe you can answer them?" he said. Raines wasn't getting off that easy. Raines looked at them both in blatant irritation.

"I'm sure I could but I'm really very busy at the moment," he insisted, trying again to get them to go away.

"I don't think these questions can wait. They're very pressing," Tom said sternly and moved for Raines' door. Doug grinned and pushed the door open further.

"Mind if we come in?" he asked as they both slipped in without waiting for an invitation.

"Now is really not a good time," Raines protested, looking momentarily panic stricken as they forced their way into the room.

"Oh, it won't take but a few minutes," Tom brushed him off. Doug was strolling around the room with his eyes wide.

"Wow, look at this place. I'm in the wrong line of work," he proclaimed, feigning awe at the upper class room. It wasn't really all that lavish, in fact it wasn't any better than Tom's own apartment, but it was better than the cheap rooms and his feigned admiration for it gave Doug an excuse to poke around.

The room was a mess really, there were papers strewn over the desk in what had to be a new level of chaotic organization. A nearby table had surveillance equipment in various stages of assembly scattered over it. It didn't look anything like what Tom or Doug would have expected from an agent as by the book as Raines. He looked like the type of man that should have been meticulously ordered. This was not ordered. Doug kept his paper work better organized than this guy did.

Tom made his way over to the table and peered at the equipment, trying to get a surreptitious look at the papers on the desk close by but wasn't able to. Doug nosed around the shelves as if the decorative plates and abstract sculptures set there for decoration actually interested him.

"What's this?" Tom asked picking up a black box covered in dials and playing stupid. He knew exactly what it was. Raines plucked it from his hands and looked annoyed. Doug started poking through a stack of magazines on the coffee table and acted as if he didn't hear them. He noticed a brief case had been shoved under a throw cushion like Raines had been forced to hide it suddenly. Probably when they had shown up.

"It's a receiver for the listening devices," Raines said setting the box down out of Tom's reach. Tom sniffed at him.

"Ah," he said as if that made sense to him.

"I thought you had questions you wanted to ask about the case?" Raines pressed looking harried by their invasion.

"We do," Doug said finally 'noticing' them again and moving to stand by Tom. He gave the equipment a curious glance as if it confused him. He nudged his partner with his elbow and cast his eyes covertly in the direction of the couch. Tom followed his gaze noting it.

"It's about this stuff actually," Tom said waving his hand at the surveillance equipment.

"Yeah, we don't really use this stuff. We wanted to be sure we wouldn't screw it up or anything. Kat said she wanted to bug Walker's classroom and stuff," Doug said pretending to be as stupid as Tom. Raines didn't need to know he'd once worked the intelligence unit of the police department and knew exactly what the equipment was and what to do with it.

"Yes well. I really don't have time to explain the intricacies of surveillance equipment right now. It's really very complicated and I'm sure two officers like you wouldn't be able to grasp it in the short time I do have," Raines explained with a condescending tone. Tom and Doug exchanged a look of distain. Doug stepped forward and puffed up in agitation.

"Are you saying we're stupid?" he snipped. Raines eyes went wide and he shook his head. Doug was a bear of a man when he wasn't mad, when he was people ran away in flocks to keep from being crushed.

"No, of course not. I just don't have time to explain all of it to someone who's never worked with it before!" Raines stuttered, backpedaling and eyeing Doug with worry. Tom didn't even bat an eyelash at the confrontation, he just let out a dramatic sigh.

"It'd be a shame if we blew the case because 'us stupid cops' didn't know what button _not_ to push," he suggested, picking up a bug and holding it in the air to examine it by one wire. Raines sidled around Doug warily and snatched it from him.

"Well, maybe I can give you something to read on it and I'll arrange a meeting for everyone tomorrow to go over any questions. How does that sound?" Raines placated, looking nervous as Tom started picking over the equipment again as if he hadn't noticed Raines didn't like him playing with it.

"Yeah, That'd be okay I guess," Doug said looking to Tom for his opinion. Tom shrugged.

"Works for me," he said indifferently.

"Why don't you just have a seat and I'll get those papers for you," Raines insisted, his voice beginning to show strain. Doug and Tom both noticed. Raines was as cagey as a turkey at Thanksgiving. Nick stood and waited for them to take a seat. It was obvious he did not intend to move until he felt they were not going to go prying without him in the room.

They both humored him and took a seat in the recliners opposite the couch as if they were happy to oblige. As soon as they looked like they wouldn't move Raines dashed off after whatever papers he was talking about and left Tom and Doug alone in the living room. Tom dove for the couch, pulling the brief case out and flipped it open while Doug kept look out. Tom's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline when he saw what was inside. It was filled with money. All of it unmarked bills. He cast a look back over his shoulder at Doug and tilted the brief case so he could see. Doug's eyebrows shot up to match his. Raines was definitely up to something and whatever it was he didn't want them to find out.

Doug hissed and Tom snapped the brief case shut, shoving it back under the throw pillow as he heard Raines coming back, scrambling back to the recliner and trying to look as if he hadn't been doing anything. Raines handed each of them a thin set of papers and gave them a forced smile.

"That should keep you satisfied until tomorrow," he said. Tom flipped through the papers as if he cared what was written on them, they weren't typed they were photo copies of an original that was hand written. The writing was angular and slanted forward. There were a few smudges in the ink where who ever had written its hand had passed over the wet ink as they wrote.

"Hand written? And I thought we were low tech," Doug noted with no little insult laced into it. Raines face pinched briefly in irritation.

"Yes, those are reports Agent Hanson wrote on our last case in regard to the equipment we used then. Typewriters aren't always available in the field. It's the same set up we'll be using this time," Raines explained.

Tom knew that was an outright lie, he looked down at the handwriting and clamped down on the urge to call him on it. He forced himself to keep a blank expression and decided to be a bit bolder.

"So, uh, what exactly did you mean when you said Katie has some 'unresolved issues'?" he said pointedly. Raines looked like he'd swallowed a ball of fire without realizing it. He quickly covered it up and gave them a cordial smile. Tom couldn't help himself, he threw back as mocking a smile as he could muster.

"Officer Hanson, I don't see what that has to do with this case and I'm sure if she wants to talk about it with you she will. If you want to know you'll have to ask her," Raines babbled, obviously desperate to get them on some other subject as fast as possible.

"I did. She seemed scared to me," Tom said taking the risk that Raines would catch him in a lie. That wasn't really what had seemed to terrify Katie but if he was right about Raines it wouldn't matter and if he was wrong Katie would just have to be mad at him. He thought it was a fair bet that if he was right Raines was not going to tell Katie exactly what it was that he'd said.

"Scared? You must be mistaken," Raines insisted but the insipid smile that broke out on his face and the triumphant glint in his eye told Tom everything he wanted to know. It was Raines she was afraid of and he wanted it that way.

"Well we're going to be undercover with her. If she's got a problem shouldn't we know about it? You know for all our safety?" Doug put in seeing the same moments of alarm and glee in Raines Tom had.

"Officer Penhall I don't think it's really any of your business," Raines shot snidely. Doug's lip curled and he growled. Tom put a hand out over his chest to stop him from pummeling the man out of hand.

Tom stood up extending his hand to Raines as if he'd been a great help. Doug took the hint and got up to leave with him though he kept giving him looks that could kill.

"Well Agent Raines thank you for your help. I'm sure this will be more than enough to keep us busy until tomorrow," Tom said cordially. Raines looked relieved that they were leaving and he wouldn't have to answer any more questions.

"Anytime," Raines answered with a plastic smile. Tom tried not to let his dislike for the man show, even if he didn't suspect he was up to something he wouldn't have liked him. The man stank of arrogance and ego so strong you could smell it a mile away. Tom and Doug made their way to of the door with cordial goodbyes to Raines.

Raines gave them a last arrogant grin, "You should be more careful where you stick your nose officers. You might not like what you find," he snarked.

Tom shoved the desire to punch the guy in the face down with a will. Doug wasn't as diplomatic about it.

"Is that a threat?" Doug snapped, his fist clenched to do what Tom was resisting the urge to. Raines seemed much too certain of himself suddenly and his arrogance was overwhelming.

"No, of course not. But like I said, Officer Hanson hasn't seen his cousin in a long time. She's not who you think she is," he replied smartly and slammed the door in their face.

Tom looked like he wanted to kick the door back in and beat the man to within an inch of his life. He ran a hand through his hair and started chewing a nail in apprehension. This was not looking good and now he knew, even if he had no proof, that Katie was caught in the middle of it. Doug stood around waiting for Tom to make a move to leave but he kept standing there as if he were trying to make up his mind about something.

"You got a pen?" Tom asked suddenly. Doug dug through his pockets and handed him one. Tom took it and pulled out the photo he still had stashed in his coat pocket. On the bottom of the Polaroid, he wrote 'We won! Dad still burned the hot dogs.' He slide the photo under Katie's door pausing as he fell back into that melancholy hole that had led him to Doug's apartment last night. He hoped when she found it, it would remind her of how close they had been, of who they used to be. That it might encourage her to tell him exactly what the hell was going on.

"What's that for?" Doug asked perplexed. Tom rose to his feet and stared at the door of Katie's room, his dark eyes darker with the concern that filled them. He had a foreboding suspicion that Katie had been pulled into whatever game Raines was playing and that she couldn't get out. It scared him to think of what that game might be. You didn't play with government agents who were dirty (and Raines had to be, it was the only thing that made sense) without playing with fire.

"A reminder of the way it used to be," Tom answered his partner with a soft voice all the bravado gone. Doug laid his hand on his shoulder in understanding and they made their way out of the hotel without another word. Both of them biting their tongues with an effort about what they'd seen and what it might mean all the way to the car.

"I don't like that guy," Doug stated as soon as they'd gotten in.

"He's dirty. Has to be," Tom said.

"Did you see how he reacted? He _knows_ Katie is afraid of him and he _wants_ it that way," he added.

"You think she knows he's dirty and she's afraid to tell anybody?" Doug said drawing the same conclusion Tom had.

"Yeah I do," Tom said.

"How much money do you think was in that brief case?" Doug asked. Tom started the car and sat back mentally calculating it.

"At least fifty thousand. Those where stacks of nothing but hundreds and they were all unmarked," Tom said. Doug tilted his head and whistled at the amount.

"What would he need that for? This isn't a drug case, he's not going to be doing any buying. If he was going to use it for something legit shouldn't it be marked if he wanted to be able to track it?" Doug queried. It didn't make sense, there was no reason he could think of for Raines to need hard cash on this case. Unless they were right and he was dirty.

"I don't know, but he's up to something," Tom said with a shake of his head. This case had just become two and he did not like where this was going.

"But what?" Doug asked perplexed. Tom shrugged at a loss.

"That's what we are going to find out," he said.

"Definitely up to something and whatever it is he doesn't want us to know about it," Doug said flipping through the sheaf of papers Raines had given them as they talked.

"He was nervous as hell back there until I said something about Katie being scared," Tom asserted.

"Why would Kat be the one writing reports on their surveillance equipment? I thought Raines was the expert on that," Doug said absently.

"She didn't write it," Tom told him. Doug looked confused.

"How do you know? Her name's signed to it," he said. Tom leaned over and pointed at the handwriting.

"See how it slants forward and there are smudges? Whoever wrote that is left handed," he explained. Doug shrugged still not getting Tom's point.

"So?" he asked.

"Katie's right handed," Tom said as he threw the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.


	6. Chapter 5: Between The Lines

**Chapter 5: Between The Lines**

The man glared at his phone as it rang again. He was in no mood to answer it, even if he did know who it was. He was very displeased with that person. Angrily he snatched the handset off the cradle.

"Yes?" he growled into the receiver.

"My plans are back on track," the voice on the other end said, dripping with confidence. He was calling from a payphone again, the sound of muted traffic and the patter of rain audible even through the phone. The man resisted the urge to throw it across the lush room in a fit of rage.

"They are, are they?" the man spat, if anyone could see him, they would have seen that his face was a deep crimson.

"I thought I told you to take care of this?" he barked into the receiver. There was a pregnant pause before the voice on the other end spoke again.

"I am!" the voice insisted all the arrogance gone out of it, replaced with surprised fear.

"Really? The director called me today. Someone is asking about files they have no business seeing!" the man railed.

"I, I , I…," the voice stuttered trying to find something to say that would stave off the man's anger.

"You failed to mention that one of them is related!" the man raved. There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Listen to me carefully. Either you take care of this and I mean now or I will. She knows too much," the man snapped in fury.

"Of course sir. I'll take care of it. It won't be a problem," the voice rambled desperately.

"You had better hope it's not!" the man yelled and slammed the receiver down on the cradle again, seething in silent fury.

The voice on the other end was left starting at the receiver in his hand in abject terror of the man's impending fury.

#**#

Katie wedged her way into her hotel room, her arms full of bags stuffed full of personal toiletries and clothes. She carefully put everything in its place, clothes hung primly in the closet, personal effects stashed in their designated spots. She rubbed her tired eyes. What sleep she had gotten fighting the voice in her head and the fear it brought had been slim at best. Raines was gone, where she didn't know but his car was missing from the parking lot when she came up.

Everything put neatly away she started for the little kitchenette to fetch a cup of coffee to fuel her obsessive search again. The thick file sat waiting for her on the room's desk. She stopped when she noticed something on the floor just inside the door. She picked it up and peered at it, tears welling in her eyes and a choked laugh escaping her lips.

Her and Tom's teenaged faces peered back at her with Tom's message written neatly across the bottom. She sniffled as unshed tears burned her nose remembering that day.

"He didn't just burn them, he made charcoal out of them," she whispered to herself. They had eaten them anyway even after her uncle had said he'd have pizza delivered. Those hot dogs had been the best ones she'd ever had, charred to a crisp or not. That summer had been the last time she had seen her uncle alive. Thinking about her uncle led her down another road, one that reminded her how he had died.

The photo did remind her of the way it used to be and how close they had been. But it had the opposite effect that Tom was hoping for. Instead of making her want to open up, she shut herself behind a thicker wall than ever, certain that now she knew what she had to do. She had to face this alone. She had to get away from here. If anything she suspected was true she had to be as far away as she could get. If she wasn't here when the last blow came Tom would be safe.

She could not bring Tom into this. One of them was already dead in the line of duty, another would be, she wasn't going to get Tom killed, following in his father's footsteps. There would be enough Hansons dead and buried soon enough. If only he hadn't been here, if only none of this had ever happened.

Her fear didn't abate, it got worse. Now it wasn't just her life she had to fear for. But she vowed she would do what she had to, no matter what the cost. The voice and memories crept up again reminding her exactly what it was she was trying to run from and with it the desperate desire for it all to go away, to forget. She clutched the picture as if it might ward off the impending storm descending on her.

"I'm sorry Tommy. I don't know her anymore. I think she died a long time ago," she choked running her fingers over the photo, a tear falling to obscure the face of the girl she no longer recognized.

#**#

Raines kept his word. Just after lunchtime the next day the Jump Street officers involved in the Hunter's Gulch case all got called to the office for a meeting. The chapel was dead quiet, no one but them was here on a Sunday. Everyone else had the day off.

Tom and Doug got there at the same time, they still hadn't told Fuller about their talk with Raines or their suspicions. They had decided to wait and see if Raines really did call the meeting and try to figure out if they were on the right track or if they were chasing ghosts. Both of them agreed that their initial assumption was right and intended to tell the captain about it after the meeting.

They filtered in, shaking off water from the downpour outside and took seats at the long table they used for meetings. Judy and Ioki were already there and both looked disgruntled about it.

"Why couldn't we have done this Friday night? I don't get enough time off as it is," Judy grumbled, her hair glistening with rain drops that hadn't dislodged when she'd come in..

"Yeah, why wait until the day before we've supposed to go in to do this?" Ioki complained.

Fuller came out of his office and ambled up to the head of the table. He looked at the four officers with a stern expression before he spoke.

"Stop your whining you two. You both get to go home. I'm taking you off the case," Adam said looking at Judy and Ioki. Everybody looked at the captain in confused shock followed by all of them talking at once wanting to know why. The captain held up his hands for quiet, he got it albeit after a bit more grumbling.

"I have something else I want you two to do. We will discuss it tomorrow, go home," Fuller said firmly.

"Tomorrow? Why is it always tomorrow? Why not now?" Judy complained again.

"Yeah, we're tired of being put off," Ioki agreed.

"You could always do paper work to pass the time," Adam threatened. Judy's mouth shut with a snap and she grabbed her coat.

"Don't have to tell me twice," she piped and made for the door.

"Me either," Ioki agreed following hot on her heels. No sooner had Judy and Ioki gotten out the door than Fuller's head turned around and pinned Tom and Doug with an icy glare. Both of them slid down in their chairs, hands over their faces as if they could hide from him that way.

"Both of you, in my office _immediately_ after this meeting," he ordered as the chapel door opened again and Raines and Katie came in.

"He knows!" Doug hissed anxiously.

"How does he always know?" Tom hissed back.

"I know all," Adam said darkly, Tom and Doug paled not realizing they had been overheard and crept further down in their chairs. Raines and Katie both looked like hell. Neither looked like they had slept, their eyes blood shot and red rimmed with exhaustion.

Katie took a chair at the end of the table furthest from Tom and buried her head in a stack of reports obviously avoiding him. Raines busied himself getting things set up, arranging papers for everyone and speaking quietly with Captain Fuller before they began. Tom watched him carefully and noticed that Raines was left handed. He hadn't seen it before but Raines' watch was on his right arm not his left like it would have been if he were right handed.

"He's left handed," Doug whispered seeing it too, his voice so low Tom only knew what he was saying because he read his lips.

"I know," Tom mouthed back.

"Then…" Doug mimed, the conclusion obvious to both of them. Tom nodded. It was Raines who had written the report.

They had both read the entire thing, not because they wanted to know how the equipment worked, they already knew that, but because they hoped it might include some sort of clue to what it was Raines was doing and what part Katie played in it. The report was terrible. The narrative was choppy, the tenses incorrect as often as not, it seemed like parts of it were missing. It was as if someone had taken several reports, cut out parts of them and then pieced them back together into a new one. It had no date and no reference to place or time. It was possibly the worst report either of them had read. But if Raines had written the report why fake one about something as mundane as what equipment they used on a case? Why forge it in the name of the one who was _not_ supposed to be a surveillance expert? It didn't make sense.

Tom's expression grew grave, Katie looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here, her fear carefully hidden by a mask of cool indifference but he could see it dancing in her eyes whenever he caught her looking up. Raines kept fumbling while he set up as if he were nervous again, constantly having to right what his clumsiness caused and trying to hide it. Tom slid down the table until he was sitting in the chair next to Katie and laid a gentle hand on her arm.

She looked at his hand but didn't look up at him, stiffening under his touch. Tom licked his lips in apprehension. He had hoped she would find the photo when she returned the day before and it would give her some sort of bright spot. That she'd let go a little. But she seemed more walled in now than she had before.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, his eyes limpid sepia pools of concern.

"I'm fine," she insisted in a small voice, still refusing to look at him. Tom blew out a breath of pained frustration.

"You don't look fine. You look like you haven't slept since you got here," Tom whispered. He tilted his head so he could look at her face, even if she refused to meet his gaze.

"Let it go Tommy," she pleaded fervently, lifting her head just enough that her eyes caught his. They begged him to stop prying, mournful and lost. But he couldn't. Her desperate pleas for him to leave it be only made him more determined to find out why and how to fix it more than ever.

"No! You are scared out of your mind. I know something is wrong," he insisted. Her eyes slid shut and she sighed heavily.

"Some things are best forgotten," she said with a sorrowful shake of her head.

Raines cut them off, calling the meeting to order and Tom was forced to let it go for the moment. For the next two hours, they talked shop. Laying out how things would go, how best to bait Andrew Walker, the finer points of Katie's profile of Walker's personality and how to deal with it. They even got a run down on how and what to do with the surveillance equipment on their end answering any questions Tom and Doug had pretended to have the day before.

According to Katie, Andrew Walker would most likely be overly friendly and quick to offer help with anything as long as it involved school but would probably be wary of leaving them alone in his classroom, especially at first. It was his way of getting into his mark's good graces before getting closer to them and suggesting they become involved in the Hunter's Gulch Community Center. Where the marks were inevitably taken from, if they were right. He would be reluctant about talking about himself or his life outside the school unless it involved Hunter's Gulch. Meaning that Katie's hope of bugging Walker's home was a long shot, they would have to focus on getting the classroom and the community center bugged and pray they could at least get a tap on Walker's phone.

The plan was to get Walker to trust them. Get him to think they were harmless, self-conscious kids with a minor drug problem, low self-esteem, an unfortunate home life that landed them in a foster home and average grades, with issues passing his class. The only friend they were allowed to have was Doug, since he was going in as their back up. He'd be playing another foster kid and a bit of an idiot so Walker wouldn't think he'd notice anything odd going on. Making him a fellow foster child gave them a pre-established background to work with. All this meant playing middle of the line, stone cold normal. Run from the bullies, stay away from the popular kids, don't rub elbows with the geeks, steer clear of the jocks and generally be kids with no discernable future and a slight bent for being social outcasts because of their reserved nature. In other words no fun at all.

The only remarkable thing about their covers was that Tom and Katie were supposed to be especially close. Why had made Tom's stomach turn. According to Katie, clients who went looking for sibling pairs (which were apparently hard to acquire and thus brought a premium price) wanted was for them to border on being too close. It meant that it was easier to pervert that sibling bond into incest when they were taken. Foster kids brought closer by their hard lives and trying to stick together were perfect. Twins begged to be knocked out with chloroform and shipped off to new lives of sickening perversion. They were attempting to dangle a carrot in front of a starving donkey.

Once the donkey had taken the bait, they'd flash their badges and arrest Walker, hopefully with the name of the procurer already obtained. If not, they'd have to try to get it out of him during questioning based on the idea that he might get a better deal if he cooperated with law enforcement.

But first they had to know he was tipping off someone to potential targets and not just a creepy teacher. No matter how accurate Katie's profiling was, there was always the chance she was wrong. To do that they had to get the listening devices in place and hope that any conversations he had pointed to him being the one they were looking for.

During the entire meeting, Katie seemed calm and collected, her fear hidden behind a veneer of professional decorum. Raines had looked relieved that Judy and Ioki had been taken off the case though he covered the reaction well. If he was dirty it made sense, it meant that he would have less people prying into his business. Less chance that he would be found out.

The information had caused Katie her only break in expression, she'd looked over at both Raines and Captain Fuller with surprise that mutated into a suspicious frown and turned into a brief flicker of fear. She tried to conceal it and might have succeeded but all of them were looking in her direction when it happened and all of them saw it. Captain Fuller's brows pulled together as he wondered why that had garnered such a reaction. Tom and Doug only looked confused. Neither of them could see a reason for the reaction.

"That will be all officers. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask," Raines said with a faked pleasant tone, dismissing them from the meeting. Tom's tongue out ran the filter in his brain that was supposed to control his common sense.

"Oh, we will, Agent Raines," he clipped, giving him an insincere smile. Raines' eyes snapped to him so fast it looked like they were remote controlled. He wriggled under Tom's unblinking and still smiling gaze like an ant under a magnifying glass. The discomfort gave way to anger and he set his mouth, stalking off in a tiff. Katie hurried to follow him, catching him just before he got to the door.

"I need to talk to you," she told him. Raines looked hesitant but motioned for her to accompany him outside and she followed, her shoulders set slightly back and high with tension.

Tom and Doug exchanged a glance and made to follow but Fuller's eyes lit on them, making them slide down in their seats again like the schoolchildren they pretended to be.

"In my office," he ordered and walked off, expecting them to follow.

They gave each other indecisive grimaces trying to decide if they should follow orders or if they should follow Katie and Raines to see what she needed to talk to him about. With a wince for the trouble they knew they would be in they followed Katie and Raines.

Quietly they made their way around the chapel, skirting the parking lot and wedged themselves behind the dumpster in the alley within hearing distance of where Katie and Raines had stopped to talk and listened.

"I want off the case," Katie said firmly.

Tom's and Doug's eyebrows shot up and they dared to peer around the dumpster to watch them. Neither were looking in their direction and didn't notice they were being eaves draopped on.

"Off the case? Are you out of your mind?" Raines spat, his face contorting into a twisted scowl.

"You hate me, I hate you. Why do you even want me here?" Katie bit back, showing none of the fear Tom had seen in her mannerisms in the last couple of days, her brows furrowed as she tried to figure out why Raines seemed outright angry at her demand.

"Randall assigned us to this case and we are going to work it," Raines said angrily one finger poking at Katie in agitation. Katie looked down at it, one eyebrow arching in either dark curiosity or wary confusion. Tom wasn't sure which, maybe both.

"Ask him for another partner. He'll give it to you if you ask even if he won't me. What is the point in working with someone you hate?" Katie shot back, though her voice didn't sound angry only decided.

"You didn't always hate me Katie," Raines said with a mocking chuckle.

"I told you not to call me that. We were never friends either and that was a long time ago Raines," Katie growled her eyes flaring with barely controlled anger.

"You are an integral part of this case Agent Hanson," Raines started bitterly.

"No, I'm not. This case could be handled without me and you know it. Have agents go in as building inspectors and tap his phone, send one in as a janitor to tap the community center and the school. You don't _need_ me," Katie rebuked her pitch rising in exasperation at Raines flat refusal to even consider removing her from the case.

"You are working this case. Like it or not. You are too wrapped up in this to back out now," Raines shot in blatant fury.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Katie said, her voice dropping into the low quiet tone that meant she'd just swung from reigned in fear into anger.

"It means that you will do your job or you will pay for it," Raines barked and marched off without another word. Katie turned white as a sheet and tensed again, the pretended confidence dropping away from her like a tree sheds leaves in fall and the cloak of barely disguised fear settling on her shoulders again like dead weight. She stood there for a few more moments before clenching and unclenching her fists in frustration and heading for her own car.

"Damn it!" Katie cursed through gritted teeth as she slammed the car door and pulled away, leaving Tom and Doug to wonder what all of that had meant. Had the last part been a threat on Katie? Or did it mean that she was partner to whatever Raines was doing? Why did she want off the case so badly suddenly?

As soon as the coast was clear, Tom and Doug made their way back into the chapel, talking softly about what they had heard.

"You think that was a threat?" Doug asked. Tom shook his head gazing down at his shoes, hands in his pockets while he considered it.

"I don't know but I don't like it," Tom said.

"HANSON! PENHALL! NOW!" Fuller's voice boomed from his office door, where he stood with a look of fury. Obviously, he hadn't taken being ignored well. Tom and Doug scrabbled to get into the office, wide eyed and slightly cowed under the authoritative tone.

"Sit down," Fuller ordered, shutting the door as they dropped like rocks into the nearest available seat. He paced around the desk and took his place, his face lined with displeasure at their behavior.

"When I say in my office, it is not a request that you can attend to when you get around to it. Do you understand me?" he said sternly.

"Yes sir," Tom and Doug both said humbly. Captain Fuller was not a man you trifled with when he was angry. Adam leaned forward on his desk and gave them each a cold, hard stare, making both of them swallow anxiously.

"Now, what the hell did you think you were doing barging in on Agent Raines yesterday?" he asked in a firm tone somewhat tempered by their abashed demeanors.

"We didn't barge in on him!" Doug protested.

"He says you interrogated him about his and Agent Hanson's relationship. Now while I admit that I have concerns about their relationship and how it might effect this case, if it doesn't, it is none of your business. Either of you. I don't care if she is your cousin Hanson. And you damn sure don't corner a federal agent in his hotel room to grill him on it," Fuller reprimanded.

"Katie's scared to death of him Captain!" Tom put in. Fuller's face twisted from anger to confusion to something that bordered on understanding. As if he knew something they didn't but if he did, he kept it to himself.

"What do you mean scared of him?" he asked with suspicious curiosity.

Tom and Doug spilled the whole story from the time Tom had picked Katie up and taken her to Dino's to the conversation they had been eaves dropping on in the parking lot. When they were done Fuller looked deeply disturbed. He sat back in his chair and leveled a grim gaze at them.

"Why didn't you tell me this before now?" he asked keeping his judgments behind his teeth for the moment and though Tom and Doug didn't know it he had good reason.

"We didn't have anything until now. We were going to tell you after the meeting but we sort of got distracted," Tom admitted his voice dropping off near the end as his eyes slide away from Fuller's steady gaze and he picked at his nails with a nervous gesture.

"Distracted? I should suspend you both. What you did borders on being illegal and it is behavior unbecoming an officer," Fuller castigated them both. Doug and Tom swallowed apprehensively waiting to find out how long they'd be suspended this time.

"I should but I won't because I agree with you," Fuller said with a reluctant sigh. How those two always managed to work themselves into something they knew they shouldn't have been doing, only to weasel right back out of because it was the right thing to do legal or not mystified him.

"What?" Tom and Doug both said at the same time, taken aback by the unexpected remark. Fuller pulled two files from a stack on his desk and flopped them on the desk in front of them.

"I called Agent Spencer Phillips Saturday morning and requested these because I was concerned that Raines' and Agent Hanson's behavior might be a problem. These came in this morning," he explained. Tom snatched the one with Katie's name on it and began reading through it.

"On a Sunday?" Doug said expressing surprise the Captain had gotten them so quickly as he slide his chair over next to Tom's and read over his shoulder.

"He owed me a favor," Fuller explained sitting back and waiting for them to finish reading the files. Tom read them with an increasing frown line, his mouth partially open as what he read took hold. When they had read both files, both Katie's and Raines' service jackets, they looked up at Adam with confusion etched on both their faces.

"Where's the rest?" asked Doug. Both files had been oddly thin and without much in the way of direct information but it had yielded some tid bits that raised more questions.

"The rest is classified, even Phillips couldn't get to it," Fuller answered.

"But isn't Agent Phillips the Special Agent in Charge for this region?" Tom asked.

"Yes he is. Whatever they were working on was serious and Eric Randall doesn't want anyone to find out about it. It's strictly on a need to know basis," Fuller explained.

"Eric Randall, Kat mentioned a Randall didn't she?" Doug said. Tom nodded in affirmation still flipping back through Katie's file, his eyes set and dark with worry.

"Randall is the Special Agent In Charge of the Virginia office. I tried to contact him but he refused to return my calls," Adam said with no little annoyance at the man's refusal to talk to him.

"But isn't it odd that there's so much missing from these files?" Tom asked looking up with his eyebrows pushed so far together they might stick that way permanently.

"Yes it is, what else is odd is that Kat has been with the FBI for a little less than two years counting her time at the academy which was short by two months. She has been on exactly one case during that time and she was awarded both the Medal of Valor and the FBI Star as a result," Fuller added.

Doug's mouth dropped open and Tom started back flipping pages to find the notation Adam was referring to.

"You don't get either one unless you are damn good at your job and a damn good Agent. The Medal of Valor is awarded for heroic or life risking acts on the job. The FBI Star is only awarded to those who have suffered serious injury while in the line of duty. They don't just hand these out to anybody especially not a rookie. Whatever she was involved in it was serious," Adam elaborated for them. Tom didn't need any elaboration he knew what those medals meant. He felt his heart beat pick up pace and lodge in his throat.

He swallowed hard, he knew how bad an injury you had to have to get awards like that, what kind of life risking it took to earn them. His father had been awarded the Medal of Valor posthumusly; he'd had to die in order to earn it. Doug simply sat there in dumb founded surprise, of all the things he'd thought they'd find out it wasn't that.

"An agent that earned those medals in the first two years of service isn't likely to be prone to bouts of idle anger and they aren't likely to be in the middle of a dirty scheme unless they are caught in the middle. What 's more, Raines has been with the FBI for seven years, he doesn't have a medal of any kind, he's never even been given a letter of commendation and he has a number of questionable reprimands on his record. Nothing that would stand out or make him suspicious but they are there all the same. Katie has one but it doesn't give an explanation for it and it's pretty minor," Adam finished. Tom could think of nothing to say he was still too caught up in what must have happened in order for Katie to earn those medals.

"So what do you think is going on? Why the weird report, why the money? What's Raines' game?" Doug asked for him. Fuller shook his head.

"I don't know. But I guarantee it's not good and we had better find out, fast. I agree Katie's scared of him from what you've said and that's bad. Real bad. That's why I pulled Hoffs and Ioki off this case, I'm going to put them on Raines see what they can find out about him. Maybe Raines is trafficking drugs, maybe not. But he hasn't got that money to buy a new suit with and the report makes no sense at all. What I do know is where there's smoke there's fire," Adam said. Tom finally looked up from the file, sliding it slowly back on the desk as if it might suddenly flip open and reveal something else he'd rather have never known of its own volition.

"I'll get Katie to talk. She may hate me when I'm through but I'll get her to talk," Tom said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"You had better or we may all end up in something we don't want to be in," Fuller admitted then paused his brow crinkling in concern.

"You going to be okay Hanson?" he asked. Tom just nodded and swallowed again in an attempt to control his nerves.

"Yeah, yeah I'll be fine," he assured him, but from the looks Doug and the captain gave him he didn't think they believed him. He wasn't even sure he believed himself.


	7. Chapter 6: 47

**Chapter 6: 47**

Katie didn't go straight back to the hotel from the chapel. She went downtown, after she made a stop at the airport. One ticket, one-way, for the next available flight. Where didn't matter as long as it wasn't here. She had three hours before it took off. Long enough to buy luggage, pack what little she had and disappear.

She knew it wouldn't keep her safe for long, it would only be a matter of time before Raines found her, but if she wasn't here and Tom knew nothing, Raines had no reason to kill him. If she was right. She still didn't know if she was chasing shadows but she couldn't take the chance that she was right. That the last six months of obsessive suspicion weren't paranoia fueled delusions. Best to cut and run now and be better safe than sorry. She'd deal with the consequences later…if there was a later.

When she did return to the hotel Raines didn't notice. Katie could hear him arguing with someone again. Words muffled by the walls but it was obvious he was angry and that he'd been drinking. His words rose and fell in pitch sharply, the beat staccato. Nick Raines single handedly kept Jim Beam in business, so it didn't strike her as odd that he'd hit the bottle. It made a perfect cover, she could hurriedly pack the clothes she'd just bought, check out and get away before he ever had the presence of mind to notice. If he noticed before morning. When Raines drank he was rarely coherent until the next day.

Quietly she packed, forcefully stomping on the voice of the woman in the mirror whispering that even running wouldn't save her or Tom. That she was already too late. That he already knew. Captain Fuller's decision to pull Hoffs and Ioki off the case so suddenly had certainly felt like he might suspect something, how she didn't know. Had Tom said something to make him suspicious? It didn't matter, right now her priority was to get out of here before anyone could stop her…before there were two Hanson grave stones to add to the first instead of only one.

It was odd, she'd spent six months trying to prove that she wasn't crazy, that all her reasoning was logical and that the five inch thick file lying at the bottom of her carryon wasn't the collective ramblings of a mind gone mad. Now, her fear for Tom's life drove her to repress the insidious voice and the ravaging desire for oblivion without as much effort, she had only been able to keep it at bay before by running herself to exhaustion, by feeding her obsession and not the cravings or the fear. But one led to the other and the memories refused to be repelled either way.

They just pushed her harder to run. To try and outpace them before they overcame her and left her curled on the floor helpless or lost to the void that threatened to consume her. She fought through it, laying the photo Tom had left under her door onto the neatly folded clothes in her suitcase. Katie felt a pang of loss well up within her. That photo would be the last reminder she ever had of Tom, she knew she'd never see him again. She wouldn't live that long. She shut the suitcase, then hefted it and the carryon onto her shoulder. With a deep breath to still her nerves enough to do it, she opened the door and shut off the lights. It was time to go.

#**#

Tom stared straight ahead over his car's steering wheel, tapping a nervous rhythm on it as he tried to work himself up to confront Katie and force her to tell him everything, will she or nill she. The fact that she'd been given the Medal of Valor and the FBI Star still eating at him. What had she gone through to be deemed worthy? How close had he come to losing her the same way he had lost his father? What had her so scared of Raines? What was Raines up to? His brain refused to slow down trying to fit it all together without enough information to accomplish the task. He took a deep breath and pulled the car door open, deciding if he didn't do it now he never would.

Doug's grip on his coat sleeve stopped him.

"Are you sure you want to do this alone?"

"Yes, I'm sure. She's not going to talk with you there, at least not at first. Give me ten minutes and then come up," Tom insisted for the fourth time. Penhall had been continually asking him if he was all right. It was driving him nuts. Tom rarely talked about things that bothered him unless pressed or driven to the point that it was talk or lose it. A lot like Katie actually. Maybe they were too much alike in that respect. Neither was going to talk until you beat them over the head with an ultimatum.

"Alright, have your way," Doug said releasing him with a beleaguered sigh.

Tom made his way into the hotel under the last light of day, the setting sun throwing pink and orange shafts of light over the windows like a glass prism. He punched the elevator and waited, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet anxiously. Katie was going to incredibly angry with him for this, but he had to know. He had a feeling she needed to tell someone as bad as he needed to hear it. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, snapping him out of his timorous contemplation.

"Mr. Hanson!" called a feminine the voice. Tom stopped short and looked around for the source. It was the receptionist from before. She was waving at him to come there emphatically. Tom quirked his brows and gave the elevator a brief glance of consideration. Pretend he hadn't heard her and go on or go see what she wanted? He hoped she hadn't worked up the courage to ask him out. He didn't have time to worry about dates right now.

"Mr. Hanson!" she called again more urgently. Tom slumped in resignation and gave in. He put on a bright face he didn't feel and strolled over. No sense in infecting the public with his case of nerves.

"Yes?" he said. The woman colored pink and smiled so that all her prim white teeth showed. Very pretty girl despite the bookish demeanor, if he wasn't so involved in Katie's situation and this case he would have asked her out. Maybe he should ask her out anyway, he could always tell her it would be a few weeks before he could make good on it.

"You just missed her, she already checked out," the woman said. Tom blinked.

"What?" he said in surprise.

"You didn't know?" she said the look on Tom's face making the smile slide into a scowl of confusion.

"When?" Tom asked more sharply than he intended his mind ticking things into place.

"About twenty minutes ago," the receptionist said her inflection a bit taken aback.

"Did she say where she was going?" Tom asked, leaning halfway over the desk in his frantic desire for an answer. The receptionist's eyes went round and she leaned back in her chair in startlement.

"Well, no. But she had plane tickets…"

Tom hit the desk hard with the flat of his hand and gritted his teeth in anger. Katie was running. He turned and pelted back out the door, leaving the receptionist staring after in him shock.

Raines stood just outside the elevator doors in the lobby, a swaying figure amid the crowd that Tom didn't even notice in his hurry to get to Katie before she could get on a plane.

#**#

Doug was half way out of the car the second he saw Tom come racing across the parking lot like he was running the quarter mile, sure something had gone horribly wrong. Tom didn't bother stopping to explain, he didn't even stop to go around the car, he slid over the hood and off the other side, snatched the door open and flung himself inside before Doug had time to register that he'd done it. Doug scrambled back into the car in barely enough time to shut the door as it roared to life and Tom threw it into reverse.

"What are you doing?" Doug yelped, holding onto the window frame for stability.

"Katie left for the airport twenty minutes ago," Tom explained as he threw the car into drive and floored it, squealing tires as he peeled out of the parking lot.

"What? Why?" Doug spat, unable to both hold on for dear life as Tom pivoted in and out of traffic and reason at the same time. Instinctively he grabbed the portable rotating beacon light wired into Tom's dash and slapped it onto the roof of the car, marking them as police officers.

"She's running. She wanted off the case, Raines refused so she's taking herself off of it," Tom suggested running through a red light. Doug was glad he'd had the sense to put the light out or they'd both have their rears in trouble.

"We've got to stop her," Doug said. Tom cut him an exasperated glance and swerved around a car that had begun to pull out into the traffic.

"What does it look like I'm trying to do?"

The Dodge Diplomat that followed in their wake had to be satisfied with switching lanes and cutting through traffic when it could. Its driver didn't dare let Tom and Doug know they were being followed.

#**#

Tom and Doug managed to get to the airport and through the security gates in less than thirty minutes by flashing their badges. They stopped with a jolt directly in front of the main entrance and lucked out. Katie was coming down the sidewalk toward them, her luggage over her shoulder. She did an about face as soon as she spotted Tom's car, heading for the crowd nearby, hoping she could lose them in the growing darkness and the deluge of people.

They raced after her, catching her easily since she was slowed by the weight of her luggage. Tom grabbed her arm with enough force to spin her completely around to face him.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. Katie looked up at him, her face a muddle of remorse, anger and desperation.

"Getting on a plane," she snapped back.

"Why? What are you running from?" he pressed.

"Let me go Tommy," Katie insisted. It was at once both demand and plea. Tom shook his head emphatically, anger set his mouth and forehead tightening until his eyebrows almost touched.

"No, not until you tell me what the hell is going on."

"It's better for everybody if you don't," Katie said with an imperious intonation.

"Talk to me Katie. Damn it you've never not been able to talk to me. Whatever it is you can tell me," Tom implored, some of the anger going out of him. Katie winced, fighting the urge to just crumble and tell him. She knew she couldn't it was too dangerous.

"Just let me go," she beseeched him and Tom knew she wasn't just begging him to let her get on that plane, she was begging him to let go of _her_. Doug, who had been silent up until now, tugged on her shoulder so she had to look at him.

"Hey, he's just trying to help you," Doug advised. Katie gave a beleaguered sigh.

"I know but he can't," she said with a shake of her head and tried to pull free of Tom's hold. Tom held on, no matter what she wanted he was not letting her get on that plane.

"How do you know until you let him try?" Doug pushed. Katie rubbed her free hand over her face in frustration.

"Katie I know about the Medal of Valor and the FBI Star," Tom said bluntly. Katie's face blanched in shock. Again that shake of her head, that refusal to speak about it.

"I'm getting on that plane Tommy. You can't stop me," she said with finality.

"He can't but I can."

The interruption was so unexpected all of them snapped around to face the sound. Raines stood there, swaying drunkenly, a vicious snarl on his lips.

"You followed us," Doug growled darkly. Raines chortled derisively.

"Yeah I did," he said dismissing Doug as unimportant.

"You and I need to have a chat Agent Hanson," he snipped.

"Not a chance," Katie bit back, but her mask slid and the fear under it was apparent to all of them. She quickly hid it again.

"Either we talk or you aren't going anywhere," Raines warned, waving his federal ID threateningly. Katie gritted her teeth in anger. One word to security from him and she wouldn't be able to catch a flight on a puddle jumper across the local fishing pond.

"Mind if we have a moment officers?" Raines asked, his eyes pinned on Katie.

"Yeah actually I do. You're drunk," Tom said stepping between Katie and Raines protectively. The crowd had dispersed, disappearing into the airport terminal for their flights, harried to make the gate before they were late. No one was around under the dim lighting of the street lamps.

"Don't presume to talk down to me. You're nothing more than an under qualified city lackey," Raines railed his eyes blood shot from all the alcohol he'd drank.

"Yeah? Well this lackey can still arrest your ass for being drunk and disorderly," Tom threatened. Raines was very close to pushing the courtesy his station provided off the edge of the map. Nick scoffed daringly, not taking his warning seriously. Doug edged his way closer, seeing the signs that Tom was very close to blowing his top and meaning to intervene…or join in, as the situation dictated (and he would have preferred to join in), should a fight start.

Katie debated what to do. She had two choices. She could refuse and cause a scene in the middle of the parking lot that would ensure that she never got on a plane out of here or she could go talk to him and pray nothing came of it. Licking her lips in apprehension, she slid around Tom and straightened her back.

"Fine, let's talk Raines," she said. Nick tossed his arm over her shoulder in an overly friendly gesture and it was all she could do not to throw it off like a venomous snake. She let her luggage slid off her shoulder to the pavement as Tom reached out and caught her arm.

"Are you sure you want to do this? He's more than a little drunk," he asked. He had a bad feeling about this.

"I have to," she whispered back as her shoulders crept higher in repulsion at Nick's touch. Silently they made their way stumblingly away from Tom and Doug.

Tom watched them, reigning in the desire to run after them and intervene. Instead, he kept a cautious eye on them as their forms slowly turned into silhouettes in the darkness.

"Put her bags in the car. She's not getting on that plane," Tom told Doug. Doug picked up the bags after a moment of rankled agitation, not at Tom but at Raines. He looked like an angry behemoth stalking off to stow Katie's luggage in the trunk of Tom's mustang.

"Oh sure. Right away Mr. Hanson. You want me to shine your shoes for you too?" Doug quipped as he went.

Tom kept vigilante watch of the two obscured forms too far away to hear and waited warily.

#**#

They made their way haphazardly through the parking lot and wobbled into the crisp night. Katie kept having to steer Nick away from walls and corners or he would have cracked his head open on one of them. As soon as they were a respectable distance from the building, where no one could over hear them coming or going into the airport, she dropped Nick's arm off her shoulder angrily. He laughed and stumbled back trying to get his bearings. They were alone in the chill night. Everyone else had sense enough to stay inside where it was warm and the company was infinitely more entertaining.

Rubbing her arms against the cold Katie felt chill bumps rise on her exposed flesh. She was not dressed for a walk in the cold. The temperature had dropped significantly in the last hour, turning her breath to vapor. Her sweater was little protection against the cutting cold and her coat was in her luggage. The cold went right through her making her teeth chatter.

"Alright Nick here we are. What do you want to talk about?" she growled.

"Let's talk about you!" he proclaimed with what Katie supposed was meant to be an extravagant flourish. It looked more like his arm was boneless and he was waving it about like a wet noodle.

"I'd rather not," Katie said with barely contained irritation, though inside she felt her stomach tie into knots. She didn't want to talk about her, least of all to him

"What have you been talking to your cousin over there about?" he asked attempting to throw his arm around her shoulder again. Katie ducked him and glared.

"None of your business," she said, swallowing nervously.

"I do hope you weren't talking about anything that you might regret," he hissed drunkenly. Katie felt fear creep up her throat to form a lump in her chest. There it was, tell and pay the price. Don't tell and still pay the price. It was just a matter of whom she was willing to take down with her. She'd already made her decision that it wouldn't be Tom. She had been right to hold her tongue, to keep Tom from becoming anymore involved in this than he already was.

"Nothing that would be any concern of yours," she managed to say with a steady voice.

"Good," Raines grinned wickedly and tried again to drape his arm around her. Katie shoved it away angrily.

"Where do you think you've skipping off to?" he asked the grin being replaced with a hard, vicious glare.

"Away from you," Katie spat, refusing to give him any sort of information, refusing to let him see that she was afraid of him.

"You aren't going anywhere," Nick snickered evilly and again tried to herd her under his arm. Katie ducked him with a sneer.

"Oh come on, you were so much more fun before that whole thing in Rio," Nick slurred. The mention of Rio made the knots in her stomach jerk with nausea. Licking her lips she plucked up her courage and confronted him. As drunk as he was maybe he would let something slip. There were just too many things about the last year and a half that had been left unanswered, uncertain.

"Oh poor Kit-Kat. Are you still sore about Rio? Get over it, things don't always go as planned," Nick mocked his mood becoming angry.

"Get over it? Damn it Raines. You don't…," Katie spat pausing in mid-sentence, unable to decide what to say. He seemed to be waiting for her to finish. She took a breath and forced the words out. She had to know the truth; she had to know if her suspicions were even the slightest bit plausible or if she was seeing shadows in the dark.

"Did you know? Did you know the surveillance equipment had been compromised? Did you know our cover had been blown?" she asked in one breath, her eyes gazed back at him with a mixture of hope that he really hadn't known the case had gone so wrong and suspicion that he had. He was the surveillance expert and somehow between when they had set up the bust and actually done it the traffickers had found out. They had found the equipment and Katie still didn't believe it had been an accident, not really. That's what the report said but she never had been able to reconcile it. The case had been worked so carefully, so well, that things should have gone off without a hitch.

She had obsessively gone over and over what had happened in her mind for months. She had certainly had enough time to. Six months in a hospital had given her more free time than she could have wanted to go over and over it again. Six months of obsession with a file five inches thick filled with diagrams and assumptions, trying to convince herself it had all been one huge mistake but she always came back to the same conclusion with no proof to back it up. The case should have been a success—unless someone from the inside had tipped off the traffickers.

Then there had been all the small but potentially deadly accidents when she'd come off the case, things that could have just been coincidence but seemed too frequent to be. She couldn't help thinking that somehow Raines was involved and that the blown case was never supposed to be a success. She couldn't stop the notion from scraping off the inside of her skull that Raines was trying to get rid of her quietly and with no connection to himself because he had been in on the trafficking ring in Rio. Nothing added up.

"No. Of course I didn't!" Nick railed angrily. Drunkenly he advanced on her and she stepped back to avoid him colliding into her.

"You aren't the one who got the short end of the stick Nick. I was! I have the right to know the truth." Katie shot back through gritted teeth.

"You? Tell me something Hanson... did you like it? It certainly took you long enough to get out," Nick growled, he seemed to shake off some of his stupor, standing up to his full height and clenching his hands into fists, anger flashing red in his eyes.

"What?" Katie snapped in disbelief. She couldn't believe what he was suggesting.

"You sure played the role in Rio to the hilt. Didn't seem to me you were really playing at all," he accused with a perverse smile. Katie could not help her reaction, it just happened.

She didn't say a word, she just did it, she punched him as hard as she could in the jaw. He reeled from the blow, staggering a few paces and the wild sidelong look he gave her, still stooped from the hit, made her blood run cold. His blue eyes looked back cold, hard, and very angry.

"You shouldn't have done that. You've caused me enough problems," he said in a low voice. Before Katie had time to wonder what problems he was talking about or turn and run, he had her by the arm. She struck at him but the alcohol that had made him so drunk gave him some resistance to pain and the blows made no difference.

"Let go Nick!" She demanded to no avail. He pulled her closer and sneered delivering her a blow as hard as she had given him. Then his hands were around her neck and squeezing, cutting off her air. She clawed at his hands trying to pry them away.

"You were never supposed to come back!" he screeched. It didn't give her any more proof than she already had but with cold dread she knew. She had been right.

#**#

Tom watched Katie and Nick in the distance. Doug watched with him, both of them holding their breath. Neither of them liked this but they had no reason to intervene yet. Nick and Katie were yards away, nothing more than silhouettes, and it was difficult to make out what exactly they were doing but it was obvious they were arguing. The larger shadow kept reaching for the smaller one. The smaller one kept dodging, then the smaller shadow struck the other sending the larger one for a loop.

"Son of a bitch!" Tom declared and was off like a shot. Doug followed hot on his heels. They were half way there when he could finally make out what was going on and he started in shock.

"Katie!" he yelled, but she couldn't hear him. She was groping at her neck trying to free herself from Nick's strangling grip, he loosened one hand long enough to strike her again. Katie took the opening and raked her nails across Raines face, twisting in his hold trying to break loose, causing her turtleneck sweater to rip from the shoulder. Nick roared at the pain the claw marks left. Tom bolted for them.

"Get your hands off her!" he called furiously. Nick ignored him and Katie, still struggling in his grasp, planted a booted foot squarely onto one of Nick's. The man yowled in pain and hit her again. Tom barreled into the fray a second later prying him off Katie. She crumpled to the sidewalk gasping for air. All Tom could see was red. Nick swung at him and he ducked it, coming up and catching Raines full force under the chin. Stunned, Nick fell back onto the sidewalk unable to stand and seeing stars.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled at Nick, automatically turning to check on Katie. If he hadn't been concerned for her he would have pummeled Raines into the pavement. Doug was helping Katie up; she hung off his arm unable to keep her feet without the support he offered.

"Katie," Tom called worriedly but he didn't have time to finish the thought. Raines had regained his feet and swung again.

"Hanson!" Doug shouted in warning. Tom felt it more than he saw it, that wisp of air that meant a fist was headed for him. He came around and whacked Raines in the head full force but he didn't stop coming. He was too drunk to notice he'd been hit.

Tom rushed the drunken FBI agent like a running back, dragging him to the ground and pinning him beneath his weight. Nick was taller than him and a little heavier but pure adrenalin alone would have given him the strength to keep Raines down. Raines swung at him with no aim, trying to get Tom off him any way he could. Tom wrestled with him a moment and straddled him, fist raised to beat the man into a bloody pulp.

He stopped, he couldn't do it. He wanted to, Raines deserved it, but he couldn't. They still didn't know what he was up to. If he beat him into the ground Raines would win, he'd have Tom on police brutality charges and they'd never have the chance to find out what he was doing or to get Katie out of it. More than ever Tom knew that Katie was not a voluntary participant in this and he would not let her fall victim to Raines because he'd stepped over the line.

Tom's hesitation cost him, Raines swung again and this time he caught Tom along the jaw. Not hard enough to do any damage, just enough to bring his rage back to the surface in full effect. Tom hit back and Raines head snapped back dazing him. Tom slid off of him and flipped him on his stomach, pulling cuffs from the back of his belt and snapping them on. He wasn't gentle.

"You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you," Tom started.

"Hanson! Kat's hurt pretty bad," Doug called. That got Tom's attention, he craned his head around to see them. Doug was the only thing holding her up. If he had not had his arm around her she would have been on her knees. Her head dangled forward limply. Tom left Raines where he was to check on Katie.

"Don't move," he warned. Raines didn't look like there was a chance of that. He rolled onto his side pulling his knees up in a fetal position and seemed to be too dumbstruck to do more.

Tom looked Katie over, she had a shiner already blooming across her left cheekbone, her hair was one massive tangle, her lip was bleeding, handprints were clearly visible on her throat and the right shoulder of her sweater was ripped nearly off. She might have been clawed as well; it looked like she had a set of welts or cuts where the sweater had torn.

"She doesn't look so good," Doug said. Tom bit his lip in concern and tilted her head up. She blinked her eyes open. They were glazed over and hazy, neither focused on him.

"Katie are you okay?" he asked softly. Her head wobbled briefly, her lips moved as if she meant to reply, then she passed out with a ragged breath, sagging in Doug's arms like a lead weight.

"Call an ambulance!" Tom yelled to a knot of passing people who looked on with expressions of morbid fascination. One of them broke and ran for a phone, in the distance Tom could hear the wailing of police sirens.

Gently Doug and Tom laid Katie's limp form down on the sidewalk, as they did Tom saw that what he had mistaken for claw marks or welts were anything but. He wished they had been. Katie had been branded like a piece of livestock. He touched it gingerly, horrified. The flesh had been burned and long since begun to heal, leaving the skin a pale pink around the raised scar left there. The mark glared back at him pearly white. The branding had been badly done. It was skewed as if she had moved when the iron was applied but he could still make it out.

"Forty seven?" he breathed, staring at the number scorched into his cousin's right shoulder blade. He looked up to find Doug gazing back with the same sickened expression on his face.

**#**#**

Tom looked at the clock on the hospital room wall. It was eight at night. Katie had been unconscious for a little over an hour and he had not left her side since she had collapsed on the street. Luckily, she had gotten away with only a bad concussion, one severely blackened eye, a busted lip, bruised arms and a bruised throat. Raines fingerprints still stood out on her neck as if they were drawn there with a marker. Tom had watched as they carted her still form through an x-ray, and CT scan but the doctors assured him it was just a matter of time before she woke. She showed no signs of brain swelling or other trauma. The doctors said it could be a few hours before she woke. She was suffering from severe exhaustion on top of the battering and her body might take advantage of the fact that she was unconscious to slip into true sleep for a while.

The captain, Hoffs, and Ioki had turned up to find out what was going on then left along with Penhall as soon as they knew she was out of danger to deal with Raines down at headquarters. Raines had been treated and released for the few blows he'd taken and immediately hauled in to the station. Doug had gone with the promise to come back with what information he could as soon as he was able.

Once they had cleared her for it, and with his permission since he was the only relative present able to give it, he had looked on as officers from the night shift beat came in and took pictures of her injuries then sat through thirty minutes of questions about what had happened. The officers had meticulously noted down every word he said, asking the same questions over again a different way to see if he gave a different answer. Wearily he tolerated it and gave the same answer every time. The only question they gave him odd glances over was if Katie abused drugs. He insisted she didn't and they wrote it down but didn't seem to believe him. Tom knew his cousin. There was no way she would ever get involved with drugs. Finally, they had been satisfied and gone away, leaving him to hold vigil over Katie as she slumbered.

Doctors had hooked up pulse and oxygen monitors and an IV as safety precautions, an oxygen tube was wedged in her nose in case her throat swelled from trauma. He had left the room politely while they dressed her in a long sleeved gown against the chill. The temperature outside had dropped again turning even the smallest amount of moisture into ice before it could touch the ground.

Now, the beep and whir of the medical equipment was the only sound in the room. Once Katie woke, she would spend a few hours under observation and then she could leave as soon as a doctor cleared her. After that, it would be three or four days before she would be advised to do more than occupy a couch and watch television. Their case had just been postponed.

As he sat there watching her, he kept trying to reconcile what had happened. Sure, Raines had been three sheets to the wind but whatever their argument had been about he could not figure what could have been said to make him try to strangle her to death. Tom was sure she had been about to break and tell him what was going on when Nick interrupted. The fear his arrival had caused had been apparent, however briefly. What had they been arguing about?

Tom asked about the brand on Katie's shoulder but all the doctors could tell him was approximately how long ago it had been done based on how far it had healed. A little over a year. None of them knew why someone might have branded her or what the numbers meant. What had happened to her for her to end up branded like an errant cow? Who did that to a person? Why? A thousand questions turned over in his mind sitting there in the sterile quiet. He thought so long he finally wore his mind out and fell asleep, his head cocked back against the wall, feet propped on the end of the bed.

Tom slept, but he slept very lightly. As soon as Katie groaned and tried to sit up in the bed, he snapped awake. She laid back again, her head pounding too hard to make it all the way into a sitting position and pushed the wires and covers around in confusion.

"Hey," Tom said smiling down at her brightly and pushing a stray tendril of hair away from her face. She looked up at him groggy and disoriented.

"God my head hurts. Am I in the hospital?" she asked, her voice little more than a hoarse whisper as she looked around at the room sleepily.

"Yeah, the doctors wanted to make sure you were okay. Raines banged you up pretty bad, you got lucky," Tom explained adjusting the pillow back where it belonged. Sometime during the night it had slid half way underneath her shoulders.

"Lucky? I feel like someone ran over me with a truck. What's the damage?" she asked trying to scoot up the bed again. Katie wasn't the type to fall apart over something like this. She had been raised to be as tough as he was. Even if circumstances allowed for it, she would never admit she felt like crawling in a corner and crying herself to sleep. Tom helped her slide back and get the pillows in a more comfortable position careful to be gentle with her. She winced anyway, her limbs stiffened from the assault.

"Let's see, a black eye that Evander Holyfield would be proud of, a split lip, a concussion the size of New York, bruised arms and Raines' handprints as a collar," he rattled off, keeping the tone light. She groaned, one hand going to her throat hesitantly.

"That's why I feel like I just spent the weekend in Tijuana with a choke chain as a necklace," she joked back, coughing from the bruising to her windpipe. Tom poured her a cup of water from a tiny pitcher beside the bed and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she rasped, sipping the liquid slowly and wincing every time her throat moved. Tom swallowed thoughtfully, his hands shoved in his pants pockets, considering what to say next. Katie was acting as if none of this was a big deal when her partner had done all but kill her only hours before. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, things were not okay. It was never okay when your partner had just tried to throttle the life out of you on the doorstep of an airport.

"Katie, Raines tried to kill you tonight. Why?" he asked softly, cutting straight to the point. Katie shut her eyes in capitulation and handed him back the cup of water.

"I don't suppose this can wait until I've had a cup of coffee and something for this damn headache?" she tried to wisecrack. Tom frowned, she was trying to avoid the subject.

"I'll ask the nurse about something for the headache but they aren't going to give you coffee with a head injury," he said indulging her attempts at evasion for the moment. Her head probably did hurt like hell, she was so many shades of purple he couldn't think of names for them all. He stuck his head out the door and waved down a nurse for a painkiller. The nurse nodded and said it would be a moment while she got approval so Tom went back in and sat on the side of the bed taking her hand in his and lacing his fingers between hers. She eyed him strangely but he had a hunch that she was skirting the issue because she was afraid, though she tried to hide it behind dark humor. Maybe a little family comfort would coax her into talking.

"The nurse will have you something in a minute. Now, do you want to tell me the truth or should I just make up something and go with that?" he asked gently but firmly. Katie snorted in churlish humor.

"Make up something. It'll be easier to believe," she said with a bitter edge to her ragged voice.

"Katie, Raines tried to kill you" he warned. She sighed heavily.

"He tried to kill me because I think he's crooked," she admitted, her words clipped. Tom's brows pulled together tightly. Accusing your partner of being dirty was a serious accusation. He knew it wasn't something Katie would do lightly or without reason and it backed up what he, Doug and Fuller already suspected.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Tom asked.

"I couldn't," Katie said dismally.

"Do you have proof?" he asked.

"No, so there we go. End of story," she quipped as the nurse came in with a syringe. Tom's jaw tightened in irritation at his hardheaded cousin. The petite woman gave them both a friendly smile as she slipped the needle into the IV line and depressed the plunger full of pain medication.

"There you are. That will have you feeling better in no time," she said motherly. No time equaled a few seconds. No sooner had the medication gone into the line than Katie's eyes rolled back and her eyebrows quirked, her head tottering as the drug hit her system. She blinked trying to refocus.

"Feeling better?" he asked stifling a laugh at the silly look on her face.

"Whoa. What was that?" Katie asked, leaning her head back on the pillows with a relieved breath.

"Fifty milligrams of Demerol. You shouldn't feel a thing for at least a few hours," the nurse said with a humorous grin as she left about her work. Tom was thankful the medication would kill Katie's pain; she looked like she was in a good deal of it. It might also make her tongue looser but nothing she said while under its influence would be admissible in court. Tom decided it was worth the risk, even if the law wouldn't accept it at least if he knew what was going on perhaps he could do something about it.

"Katie why'd you run?" he broached, hoping she was relaxed enough not to rebuff him again. She still gave him a look that said she really didn't want to talk about it.

"I've seen the brand. I know about the medals, I know there's more to it than you're telling me," he told her, his eyes full of pleading. She flinched, her face twisting in emotional pain and sorrow. When she looked back at him, he peered into a pair of haunted eyes. They looked so wrong gazing back at him from her face it set his teeth on edge. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, trying to give her the courage to speak.

"You'll hate me," she said in a strained whisper tinged with shame.

"This is me you're talking to Katie," he assured her in a soft voice. She chuckled morosely.

"I hate me. What makes you think you'll see things any differently?" she asked dishearteningly.

"Try me," he whispered pulling her into a one armed embrace as he had so many times while they were growing up. A gentle reminder that she could talk to him, tell him anything.

"I don't know if I can," she answered, contemplating the thread count of the coarse blanket across her lap. She was avoiding explaining, unwilling to relive the events that explanation would pull back to the surface. Things she had carefully buried and reburied in an attempt to pretend nothing was wrong.

"Please talk to me Katie," he urged his eyes limpid and imploring. It tore at him to see her like this. Couldn't she at least burst into tears, crawl into his arms for the comfort he could offer? He wondered if anyone saw him the same way, standing alone when if he would only let go they'd catch him when he fell.

"You really want to know?" she asked, her expression a little wall eyed with only one good eye to gaze at him with, the other swollen nearly shut.

"Yes," he confirmed pushing another stray piece of hair back from her face. She shut her eyes a moment and took a deep breath before she began. He sat and listened.

"I ran because as long as I didn't tell you anything, as long as you weren't involved, he wouldn't have a reason to go after you. If you knew he'd just kill you too and there are enough gravestone with the name Hanson on them. Better that only one more be added to the count," Katie admitted sorrowfully.

Tom swallowed with a brief nod of his head, understanding. It hurt for her to remind him about his father. Of how close he'd come to losing her too. If he hadn't been there, he wouldn't be talking to her in a hospital room. He'd be identifying her body in the morgue.

"I did tell you the truth. I just didn't tell you all of it. I _was_ pushed through training, we really did have very little time to catch those guys before they moved and we lost them again. The assignment was in Rio de Janeiro. It was only supposed to take three months," she explained, her voice gruff. He didn't say a word, he just let her talk. If he interrupted, she might change her mind about telling him.

"We worked our way into the ring, got them to trust us. The idea was to set up a buy with me as the bait. Once the money changed hands we'd have two dozen FBI agents breaking down the door to round the traffickers up. But that's not how it happened. It all went wrong. God, it went so wrong," she said shaking her head and pausing for a hoarse breath of strength before she continued. Tom rubbed her back encouragingly.

"Somehow they made us. I don't know how. Nick had set up surveillance equipment around the warehouse they used for buying and selling. They found it and knew we were FBI or at least some sort of law enforcement. We didn't know until it was too late. We went in to make the bust and they opened fire. We never had a chance. They had reinforcements hidden outside and the whole thing turned into a free for all. I was told later fourteen of our people were killed or injured. I was hit and I didn't have my gun so I ran or I tried to. Someone knocked me out before I got very far," she said shaking her head in dark humor.

"There was no reason for things to have gone belly up. That sting was planned so meticulously, every single detail catered to until it was perfect. We had no reason to believe anyone suspected us. I have a file five inches thick where I've tried to calculate what went wrong. I can't find any explanation for it except that someone turned on us," she explained. This was where things got very hard for her to discuss.

"They lost me in the whole mess. For nine months, they couldn't, or wouldn't, find me. Nine months is a long time to be a missing FBI agent with no word to your family and nothing resembling a rescue attempt don't you think?" she told him stopping to gather her thoughts before she went on. Her voice was strained and sounded like she was holding back barely contained tears—or screams.

"So you think Nick was the one who turned on you and that's why you think he's crooked?" Tom asked.

"Oh I know it now. I just don't have the proof. I know he was the one who set me up and I know I was never supposed to come back alive. They didn't find me Tommy. I got out by pure dumb luck," she told him.

"How do you know?" he asked curiously.

"Because while he was crushing my windpipe for me back there he told me I was never supposed to come back," she confessed. She sounded soul weary. A person pushed too far too fast by circumstances you only read about in novels.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" asked Tom as he rubbed her back gently.

"With no proof? A rookie agent accusing a senior agent of being dirty when the case she was on went bad? That doesn't look good Tommy," Katie said derisive snort.

"They had to have noticed no one tried to find you," he reasoned.

"It's Rio Tommy. People disappear without a trace every day. They just assumed I was dead or I had been the one who betrayed them to the traffickers and ran while I had the chance," she explained. Tom nodded in begrudged understanding. This whole thing looked bad and sounded worse. Haltingly, she continued.

"The traffickers branded me. Number forty-seven on the auction block. It's not something you see done very often anymore but some of the more barbaric operations still do it - and sold into a brothel… I think. I can't remember very much about it exactly. I do remember the name of the place had something to do with dolls but it was in Portuguese," she paused taking a deep breath before she went on.

"They do horrible things to control you and I just couldn't keep up," she said slowly tugging back one sleeve to revel her arm, her eyes were sick with the memory of it. The drugs, the pain, the feel of the brand searing her flesh. The smell had been unbearable, like roasting pork. Ugly track marks ran up her arm, tracing the fine veins that spread over her inner elbow. Tom fought a wave of nausea and looked away. Now he knew why the officers had kept asking him if Katie used drugs. The doctors must have seen the track marks and said nothing believing it was something a cop like Tom would have already known and wanted kept quiet.

"If you won't do it on your own, they'll make you. The customers don't care if you're willing or even conscious, as long as you're a warm body. I never would let them so they controlled me with heroin. I was so doped out of my head I couldn't defend myself and when I did they just beat me until I couldn't move. That's how I got the Medal of Valor and the FBI Star. Not that I earned them. It was more of a placating honor courtesy of Randall. Something to try and make up for leaving me over there for nine months. He said they tried looking for me but I don't buy it," she breathed hoarsely, turning eyes on him damp with withheld tears. Her bottom lip trembled and he squeezed his eyes shut. Not Katie, he'd seen horrors in his line of work, rape, murder, kids tricked into speed balling until they died, what the system did to the kids he put away, but this couldn't happen, not to her. That's not how it was supposed to be.

His mind didn't want to believe it and yet he couldn't deny it. He had spent time in jail for a murder he didn't commit, and been drugged and nearly killed by a doctor afraid his secret would get out. Harry had nearly been killed in the line of duty. All of them had faced demons. It was the risk they ran doing their jobs and she was no different. They all knew the chance they took every time they stepped out under color of authority.

"Jesus, Katie,' he said softly, touching the darkened veins on her arm with fingertips that were feather light.

"Eventually they shot me up so many times I got addicted. I swear I fought it Tommy, but I couldn't stop them and it made me forget for a little while. It made me not care," she said, every word sounding like it was forced out over some imaginary barrier. She didn't want him to know what she'd become. She was ashamed to her core; she could not even look at herself in the mirror anymore. She couldn't stand who she was now, how could anyone else?

"I tried to get away so many times. Eventually I got lucky. Somehow, I managed to crawl out of the place; I don't know how I did it. Maybe someone left the door unlocked or the guard was asleep. I don't know. All I remember was a desperate need to get away before I ended up dead. I just shuffled along blindly until I couldn't go any further and passed out. A pair of tourist found me; I'd made it onto a side street before I lost consciousness, and they called an ambulance. From there I was taken to the American Embassy and as soon as I was stable enough they sent me home," she continued. Her face was deceptively calm, contemplating some far point on the wall as if what she said didn't matter.

"I spent six months in rehab, getting the heroin out of my system and fighting the addiction to it. Then the accidents started, little things at first. The brake lines on my car were cut but thanks to you and all you taught me about cars, I noticed. I was mugged at gunpoint strolling through a park but the perp lost his nerve and ran, muttering that he hadn't been paid enough to do 'this'. My methadone was switched with opiates strong enough to kill a horse but I got a stomach virus and threw it up before it could do any damage. Underhanded, sneaky things," she continued. Tom sat nodding slightly as he listened to her tell her story.

"Then, I got pulled out of rehab and we came here because - supposedly – I was the only one with the particular skill set they needed to work this case and you threw a wrench in their plans. Nick never expected me to run into someone I knew and trusted. Someone I might tell. He ordered me to go to the police banquet next weekend, knowing that we would have been undercover for a week already and that there would be a herd of photographers there hunting for the front-page photo. According to him, it would be good for interdepartmental relations. If my picture ended up in the paper, we would have all been made. That could have gotten us all killed. I said no. It's probably what threw Nick into such a rage. I bucked his plans to kill me…again. And I haven't got an ounce of proof to back up a word of this," she finished.

"I believe you," Tom offered consolingly. That undid something inside Katie and she finally broke.

She choked, tears starting slowly at first then breaking into gut wrenching sobs. Tom gathered her in his arms, pulling her tightly to his chest he held her, his chin resting on top of her hair, stroking it softly.

"It's okay," he whispered. She kept going, how he didn't know. If she had been talking to anyone else they couldn't have understood her. Her words were punctuated with sobs and cries that distorted them. He just held on to her. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.

"I sorry Tommy. I'm so sorry. I don't even know who I am anymore" she cried, the words were soul wrenching and he fought down the tears of sympathy that threatened. He rocked her like a small child and kissed the top of her head.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," he comforted. Katie shook her head in disagreement.

"I shouldn't have let them hook me. I should have known something was up. I should have seen the signs. I should have told someone," she insisted.

"You were a rookie thrown into the field with too little training. You did your job, it went wrong and you ended up swallowed alive because someone else was trying to cover their tracks. It's not your fault. You did what you had to, to survive. You earned those medals whether you believe it or not," he whispered, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. She cried harder, the wails turning into shirt muffled screams. Tom bit his lip until it nearly bled and just held on, choking on the sorrow and horror of it all.

Eventually, she cried herself out, and exhausted by her harrowing confession, fell asleep still curled in his lap like a four year old. He felt as exhausted as she was, serving as the only steady tether she had to hold onto in the maelstrom of emotion that had been set loose. Unwilling to wake her, he stayed on the bed and let her use him as a pillow and used the time to think about what she had told him and how he could do something about it. What she'd told him more or less confirmed that Raines was dirty, if they could only prove it. It didn't explain what he was doing with a brief case full of money and a report forged in Katie's name that made no sense. But it was one step closer to finding out. Tom would have bet money that Raines was either continuing whatever dirty job he'd been doing in Rio here or he'd started a new one. Now he just had to prove it.

He whispered one last thing into her ear as she slept, a subconscious call to the woman who had lost herself amid the soul eating carnage that undercover law enforcement lived though day after day. A recall to the girl he'd grown up with, who had been a spirited, fun loving and an annoying ball of mischief.

"I know who you are. You're the pest who blackmailed me into sneaking you out of the house when you were grounded so you could go to a 'WHAM!' concert. You're the brat who used to tie my shoelaces together when I wasn't looking. You're the twerp who convinced me to let you borrow my favorite jacket and never gave it back," he told her slumbering form, tears welling in his eyes for all she had been and forgotten. A nostalgic smile pulling at his lips for all she made him remember.

"You're the little kid who begged to sleep with me because you watched 'Jaws' after Dad told you not to and it scared you half to death. You're the girl I threatened to kill Bobby Williams over because he was your first boyfriend and he broke your heart. You're family. That will never change Katie, never."

He meant every word, in ways he had never known he could mean it.


	8. Chapter 7: Friends In Low Places

**Chapter 7: Friends In Low Places**

Tom didn't know how much time went by with him wedged precariously onto the bed with Katie curled against him in sleep but when he woke it was to the sound of soft tapping on the hospital room door. At some point, the doctor must have come in to check on Katie, empty cups had disappeared, the pitcher of water was refilled and her bed chart had been flipped to a fresh page of notes. He squinted against the harsh incandescent light of the overhead fixtures and gently worked his way from under Katie, nestling her back on the bed as he went to answer the door.

Doug's head peered back at him through the tiny window in the door looking more than a little nervous. Tom opened the door and slipped outside into the hallway.

"Hey, how's she doing?" Doug asked. He was shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"She's okay, just a little shaken up," Tom told him eyeing his partner's behavior, not bothering to explain what exactly he meant by shaken up, knowing his partner would just assume she had been unsettled by the brawl.

"What about Raines?" he asked, watching Doug trying to screw up the courage to say something. He had the same look on his face he had when he'd done something he knew Tom was going to be mad about.

"He's got a bruised jaw and he's furious at being held in custody but he called their boss and he is on his way up. The captain said it will be a few hours before he gets here. As soon as he does, it becomes their case. Until then Katie is under police custody," Doug told him and waited for the impending anger he knew would come.

"What?" Tom said beginning to fume, his voice low and deep, as it often was when he was bordering on the edge of exploding.

"There are officers on their way now. I came as soon as I found out," Doug explained, feeling guilty to be the bearer of bad news. As if things weren't bad enough already.

"They're going to arrest _her_? He tried to kill her!" Tom spat.

"Fuller is trying to charge Raines with attempted murder, aggravated battery and public drunkenness, but Raines wants to press charges on Katie too. He's saying she hit him first," Doug admitted. Tom ran his hands through his hair in frustration. This on the heels of what Katie had told him earlier. It couldn't be a coincidence and it didn't bode well.

"Doug, Raines is as crooked as we thought he was. This wasn't an accident, Nick was trying to kill her because she knows he's dirty," Tom told him, not wanting to violate Katie's confidence but knowing something had to be done before Randall got here and set everything on its ear. Randall had to be part of it, there was no way things could have gone on this long without him knowing something wasn't right.

"How do you know?" Doug asked bewildered.

The door to the room opened and Katie poked her head out, towing the IV and monitor stand. She looked perfectly calm despite her haggard appearance and for a moment, Tom thought she hadn't heard what had been said. Doug winced at her bruised features, his eyes lingering briefly on the fading handprints around her throat.

"Because I told him he was and I did hit him first," she said simply, her voice still rough and strained, standing in the doorway with the door ajar. Without her battered visage no one would have known there was anything wrong. She showed no signs of the vulnerable girl Tom had held while she cried; she was once again Agent Hanson. She didn't seem disturbed or surprised by what she had heard, her tone matter of fact.

Tom and Doug both turned an expression on her of embarrassed consternation. Neither had expected her to just appear at the door and comment unexpectedly with such deadpan seriousness. They both felt a little guilty being caught talking about her not knowing she had heard them.

The fact that she didn't seem bothered, alarmed Tom. From the story she had told him, she should have been running screaming for the hills in fear of Raines. She should have been troubled by the news at least a little. Instead, she gazed at them both from the door in impatience.

"If you are going to talk about somebody, you might as well do it from inside the room," she said, then padded back to the bed, assuming they would follow. Tom and Doug exchanged an abashed look and slipped inside, shutting the door behind them. Katie fumbled with the IV stand for a moment, cursing it once or twice, as she got comfortable on the bed again. This time sitting with her legs folded under the blanket. Tom and Doug stood in the middle of the room and tried not to look as off put as they were.

"Aren't you even a little concerned there are cops coming to arrest you?" Tom asked in exasperation. Katie sighed softly.

"You didn't really think something like this _wouldn't_ happen did you? After what I told you?" she asked gently more for his benefit than hers. She had expected something of the sort. Raines was not going to just let her walk away and risk being ousted. Nick had been trying too hard and too long to get rid of her quietly to give up now.

"And we just gave him the perfect excuse," Tom breathed as the weight behind what she said sunk in.

"Have me arrested, throw me in jail, slip some soon to be lifer a shiv and they have their problem all nice and gift wrapped," she observed curtly, her voice still rough and raspy. The absolute stone cold way she talked about it made Tom's skin crawl. What had her time undercover done to her? She didn't seem in the least bit disturbed by the fact that she could die. Come to think of it, she hadn't earlier either. She hadn't broken down until he had told her he believed her. Had she just accepted the prospect of death as a daily occurrence?

"Okay, I know you said Raines is dirty but could someone clue me in here?" Doug asked more confused than ever. Katie gave him a measuring look, cold and calculating.

"Can I trust him?" she asked Tom. Tom nodded in assent. Doug looked affronted she would even ask.

"Good," she said.

"Why not just ask me?" Doug said.

"I trust Tommy's judgment. You're cute Doug but I don't know you," she admitted with a coy smile. Tom winced. Katie had just flirted with Doug! How was he supposed to keep his partner at bay if she insisted upon casually making passes at him?

"Fair enough." Doug said somewhat placated by her compliment an impish grin playing at his lips and a smug glint in his eye he aimed right at Tom. Tom gave him a perturbed look back.

"I imagine we don't have much time so here's the short version," Katie said.

Then Katie launched into an abridged version of her story. Leaving out the personal and heart wrenching anecdotes, those only Tom would ever be privy to. When she was done Doug looked like he might be sick.

"You don't have any proof?" he asked dismally. With no way of proving what she said she had no way out and no way to convince anyone who didn't know her, including him if he was fair about it, that her story was true.

"Not a drop," she answered mildly.

"There has to be something," he insisted with a dejected sigh. Katie could only shake her head in answer but Doug's comment jogged something in Tom's brain.

"Maybe there is. I don't think Raines is in this alone, your boss has to have noticed something isn't right," he said drumming his fingers on the footboard of the bed, "That file you said you had. Is it in your luggage?"

"In my carry on but what difference does it make? I've gone over it a million times in the last six months and I can't find anything," she answered bemused.

"Maybe there's something you missed," Tom said bouncing on the balls of his feet, suddenly on edge.

"If you really think I might have missed something, if you think Randall is in on this, you better keep that file to yourself. If Randall is on his way here, he won't come alone. He'll bring the Office of Professional Responsibility with him and they will have it buried so far under classified designations the President couldn't get his hands on it," Katie warned.

"The what?" Doug asked.

"The FBI's version of IA and they aren't the friendliest of people," she said.

"I'll see what I can find. Maybe I'll see what you didn't," Tom said pulling his car keys out of his pocket. Doug got up to follow Tom but he waved him off.

"No, stay with Katie. She needs someone around she can trust," he urged. Doug seemed conflicted but assented with a hesitant nod.

"One more thing Tommy, watch your back. If Raines or Randall finds out or even suspects I've told you any of this you're as much on their hit list as I am. Both of you may be," she said with a worried tightening of her face. It was the first show of concern she'd given them and it had been for them not her. Tom gave her one of his own, he didn't want to leave her to face the arrest alone but if someone didn't prove she wasn't as guilty as Raines she'd have more to worry about than an arrest.

"Take care of her," he said sternly to Doug.

"I will," Doug assured him and then he was gone, racing down the hospital corridor past the police as they arrived to arrest his cousin. He blew past them without a second glance.

#**#

Katie kept up the reserved and deceptively calm façade. There was really no point in freaking out, what would be would be. Right now, there was nothing she could do about it. The only chance she had was that Tom would find something she hadn't in that file, before it was too late.

It didn't take the police long to make their way to her room. They didn't barge in but they made no attempt at being discreet about it either.

"Katherine Hanson?" one officer asked sternly as his head appeared through the door.

"All day, every day," Katie quipped at him. His fixed expression scrunched into a disapproving frown. He hadn't been expecting such a snide response from an FBI agent. She wasn't about to turn into Shirley Temple for them. If they couldn't take a few snide remarks considering the circumstances, they needed to look for a different job. She might be terrified but she'd never let them see it.

"Agent Hanson, You're under arrest for aggravated battery. You have the right to remain silent…" the officer began, though the look he gave her when he got a good view of her face and neck was far more somber and disconcerted than it had been.

"Have you even seen the other guy? He tried to kill her and you're arresting her!" Doug complained, unconsciously moving halfway between the approaching officer and Katie as he eyeballed the cuffs that dangled from the officer's hands.

"We're just following orders Officer Penhall," another much younger officer explained in a shy voice as he entered the room hesitantly. Doug sighed and shook his head.

"I know," he answered with a sullen expression.

The first officer was finishing reading Katie her Miranda rights and about to secure the cuffs on her obliging wrists. Doug turned to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"No cuffs man," he said. The officer hesitated then preceded with his work, clicking shut the metallic rings with a snap. He looked shamefaced and more than a little reluctant now.

"It's okay Doug," Katie reasoned, though now fear had begun to set in. It was really happening and there was no way out of it. She swallowed once, hard and took a deep breath in an attempt to keep her cool. Her offhand remark about someone with a hidden shiv hadn't been meant as just a snide comment. It was a very real risk. All it would take is one tiny piece of sharpened plastic and it would all be over.

"No it's not okay." Doug insisted, grimacing at the arresting officer. The officer looked like he might say something in rebuke but a doctor came stumbling in the door at the same time, looking rather put upon and rumpled. He took one glance around and became very serious.

"What's going on here?" he asked sternly, a sheaf of papers in one hand.

"An arrest. What does it look like?" Katie snapped. The doctor huffed indignantly at her sarcasm before railing at everyone present.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do this. You are accosting a patient in my hospital!" he insisted. Katie sighed turning her wrists in the cuffs against their tightness. She really didn't want this to be more of a scene than it already was.

"Those papers you're holding look like discharge papers," she observed. The doctor looked down at them as if he were holding a foreign object. He'd forgotten them in his indignation over police suddenly invading with no warning.

"Well, yes," he answered. Katie chuckled darkly.

"Then I'm not a patient anymore, am I?" she answered. He opened and shut his mouth trying to come up with a response and could think of none.

"No, I suppose not," he mumbled, then babbled in addendum, "But you still have to sign the forms and you have after care instructions," as he handed the clipboard over to her. She had the papers but no pen.

"Anybody got a pen?" she asked mildly. The younger officer handed her one from his own pocket, his hand shaking in embarrassment as he did. She took it and signed the papers as if things were going according to routine and none of this was odd at all. Doug moved closer to her protectively. Tom would never forgive him if something happened to her.

"Aren't you even a little afraid of all this?" he whispered into her ear as the doctor confirmed the paper work was in order and began tearing off duplicate copies for her to keep.

"Mortally, but what good would it do for me to fall apart now?" she answered him honestly. When she looked up at him, it wasn't with the carefully managed mask of indifference, it was with scared, dark, wells of fear. Doug gave her a bolstering shoulder squeeze and a thin-lipped smile. She was right, even if she was terrified what good would showing it do, other than to entertain the mass as they passed by?

"You mustn't drive a vehicle, drink alcohol, engage in physically taxing activities or risk sustaining additional injury to your head. You need to follow up with your primary care physician within the next three days. Take the naproxen prescribed to you for any pain every six hours and try to stay as comfortable as possible over the next few days. If you have any worsening of symptoms return to the ER immediately," the doctor advised handing her the papers. She took them and laughed. What was she supposed to do with them hand cuffed and in a hospital gown?

"I'll have Tom get the prescription filled," Doug said pulling the papers gently from her fingers and stashing them in his back pocket. Katie smiled at him wanly.

"Well then, I guess we should be on our way. I don't suppose I can get dressed first?" she asked curtly. Both officers turned red.

"Of course Agent Hanson," they answered in unison but neither made a move to give her any privacy to do so. Katie snorted in vexation and rolled her eyes. Doug growled in irritation and advanced on them.

"At least take off the cuffs so she can get dressed," he barked. The younger officer went wide eyed under Doug's imposing size and the elder shivered in fear briefly before covering it up carefully with a visage of stern business.

"I can't do that Officer Penhall. She's a violent criminal. Taking off the cuffs would pose a risk to public safety and a possible escape hazard," he observed swallowing hard. Doug growled again and narrowed his eyes. Katie laughed out right at the absurdity of it all. Leave it to law enforcement to have such mundane, idiotic procedures. It wasn't just local law enforcement either, the FBI was just as redundant and asinine about it.

"I'm the one in the hospital but I'm the violent one? As for escape, what am I going to do? Jump out a fourth story, reinforced glass, window?" she bit. The officers looked chastised by it but still wouldn't remove the cuffs. Doug took them both by the collar and hauled them out the door to give her some privacy to dress at least. He was deliberately less than gentle about it.

It took a few minutes but Katie managed to get on her socks and jeans despite the hindrance of being hand cuffed. Her sweater had been ripped to shreds and there was no way of saving it, the hospital gown would just have to do until she could get a shirt.

Outside the room, she could hear Doug whispering something to the officers in a dark tone. She was mildly curious about what he might be saying but dismissed it when she ran into a problem getting her boots on. She managed to stumble around until she got her feet into them, but once they were on, she had no way of tying the laces. Every time she bent over to try she got dizzy and started to tilt over. Disgruntled by her situation she shrilled in frustration and sat back down on the bed. The noise drew Doug's attention.

"You okay?" he called through the door. She chuckled at the hilarity of the situation and it was funny if you looked at it the right way. Big, bad, FBI agent can't even get her shoes on because the bigger, badder, police department had her in hand cuffs because of a dirty partner who hadn't suffered more than a love tap.

"I'm fine. Hand cuffs and concussions aren't very conducive to tying shoes though," she called back. She was on the brink of a giggle fit and she wasn't sure if it was her predicament or the overall stress of the situation. No amount of self-imposed humor could hide the fact that Raines had probably won. This was most likely the last time she'd see the outside world again. There was a long pause and then Doug answered her.

"You decent?" he asked. She looked down at her hodge-podge clothing and wondered what constituted 'decent'.

"Yeah," she called back. Again, there was that pregnant pause before he answered.

"Need some help? He asked, his voice dropping sharply at the end in shyness. Katie laughed again at her predicament.

"Yeah, I think I might," she admitted. The door clicked open and Doug came in, trailed by two significantly more cowed officers. Katie wondered what he had said or done to drop them down a peg or two. They stayed in the room but made no move to interfere. Instead, they stood sheepishly nearby and waited quietly.

Doug knelt down at her feet and began tying the boots for her, careful to keep the laces from becoming too tight. He kept his eyes down cast shyly. It was one thing to be a lady's man hitting on a pretty girl with no shame at all. It was another to be helping someone into shoes because they'd been beaten black and blue and were hand cuffed like a common criminal. He wasn't sure if Tom would have appreciated what he was doing or wanted to throttle him for it. He hoped the former.

"There. How's that?" he asked finally looking up at her. She smiled gently down at him. It was an expression he'd never seen her use, the soft gentle smile someone gave another when they were touched by something. Doug felt his scalp prickle and cast his eyes away again.

"It's fine," she answered, her own voice betraying a sense of shyness she hadn't expected to hear. The situation was precarious to say the least and the circumstances it placed her in would have long since undone anyone else.

Doug got to his feet and without a second thought, because her hands were bound and her feet dangled a full five inches off the floor, he picked her up by the waist and set her on her feet. His impulsive action made him turn red as a radish.

Doug looked her over and thought she looked as ready as she was going to get. He gave her a sheepish smile and stepped away. Both cops were trying to appear as if they hadn't noticed the proceedings. They did all but whistle and look away; they tried so hard.

"Ready?" he asked. Katie bit her lip and looked nervously away, as much in embarrassment of her circumstances as of what she knew awaited her.

"Ready," she confirmed straightening her back and trying to look confident. Doug knew better and the officers were so busy casting Penhall furtive glances they couldn't be bothered to notice. With a hand wave Doug indicated they could go and again Katie wondered what he had said or done to change their behavior.

"What'd you say to them?" she asked curious. Doug gave them both a self-satisfied smirk.

"I threatened to sic the McQuaid brothers on them," he answered. Katie's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Who are the McQuaid brothers?" she asked as the elder officer took her elbow, with a great deal more grace than before, to lead her away.

"Oh, nobody really," Doug said slyly and gave the officers a pointed look when he said it. Katie still looked confused. The officers looked freshly frightened by the mention of the McQuaid name. She had no way of knowing that the McQuaid brothers were one of Tom and Doug's undercover personas with very bad manners and a bad habit of pulverizing anything that annoyed them…or killing it.

Only a few steps out the door Doug stopped them again.

"Wait. Here...," he said shrugging off his leather jacket and draping it around Katie shoulders. The elder officer made to protest again.

"I can't let you do that Officer Penhall…," he began. Doug cut him off with a shaken finger.

"Uh, uh, uh, not another word. It's fourteen degrees outside; she'll freeze to death. And I'm going with you," he said firmly. He was not going to leave Katie to the hounds. He had promised Tom he would take care of his cousin and he planned to do just that for as long as he could get away with it.

"Officer…," the elder cop started again. Doug sniffed and pinned him with a glare.

"McQuaids," he threatened and the cop snapped his mouth shut without another word. Doug smirked and dropped an arm protectively around Katie's shoulder as they walked. Doug would never know how much that simple gesture meant to Katie. His bulk provided a wall she could hide behind, away from the prying eyes of the onlookers as they passed.

Half way to the parking lot Katie managed to speak, finally succumbing to some of the fear she kept firmly in check.

"Thank you," she said in a soft voice looking up at him and fighting the urge to break down under the weight of fear. Doug smiled down at her with one of those sweet smiles of his.

"No problem," he answered and she surprised him by nestling her head against him as they walked. It made him wince in sympathy and at the same time, he felt a little thrill. He tightened his hold around her shoulders comfortingly against the biting chill in the air.

If Tom had seen his cousin walking under Doug Penhall's arm like a high school flame some part of his psyche would have been jumping up and down in place, beside himself in silent and inept fury. His efforts to thwart Doug's romantic overtures slowly coming undone by fate and circumstance and without Doug's help at all.

#**#

Tom had rummaged through Katie's carry on as soon as he was back in the car

The file was laid at the bottom underneath a few personal miscellaneous items. He pulled it out careful not to upturn more than he had to. Katie was as neat as he was and she'd be annoyed with him if he turned her careful packing job into a mess. As he thumbed through the file, he recognized Katie's neat, even script. Every page had been ordered and categorized. Tiny colored flags attached to the top of each section to organize it, notes attached with paper clips to pages she had felt needed a written reminder about something. He couldn't have asked for a more well put together file. It might have even been more ordered than Tom would have gone to the trouble of doing. But, given her obsession over proving that she hadn't lost her mind and Raines was dirty and remembering his own obsession over his girlfriend's murder a couple of years ago he understood it explicitly. Nothing popped off the page at him in that few moments he spent looking through it but he prayed that a more in depth analysis of it would make something jump out at him.

He closed the file and stashed it back in the bag, he had to get this file to Fuller. But first he intended to make copies of it. He'd learned long ago you didn't keep all your eggs in one basket and he didn't intend to lose the original at any cost. It was the only thing they had tying Raines (maybe) to Katie's accusations and possibly to what he and Doug had found. It was the only thing that might get Katie a get out of jail free card. Once he got her out of jail, and he would get her out he vowed silently, he did not intend to allow her to go back to a hotel. She could stay with him until this was all over. It would afford her a shoulder to lean on and let him keep an eye on her in case something else went wrong. As things currently stood, he had no doubt something else would go wrong. It was just a matter of time.

With everything tidily back in Katie's carryon he hit the road. First, he'd get copies made and stash it safely, and then he'd head to police headquarters and find out exactly what was going on with Katie's arrest and get a copy of the file to Fuller. He hoped Katie was okay; her comment about someone slipping some lowlife a shiv was too likely a possibility.


	9. Chapter 8: Steel Bars

**Chapter 8: Steel Bars**

When Tom arrived at Police Headquarters, Captain Fuller, Judy, Ioki and Penhall were all waiting for him. They were all standing in one spot, easily visible to anyone coming in the door anyway. He wasn't sure, given the tone of the conversation, that they had been waiting for him at all. They were too busy arguing to notice him walk up.

"Captain, I'm telling you. She can't be kept in a cell with anyone else it's too dangerous," Doug insisted.

"Doug, you don't have anything to back up what you're saying and the feds won't let anyone back there now that she's in custody. They gave strict orders that once she was in custody no one was allowed to speak to her until they get here," Ioki said. Doug pinned him with an annoyed glance.

"We know you and Tom saw Raines try to kill her but all we have is her word. That's not going to go very far," Judy pointed out truthfully. She was playing devil's advocate and it didn't make her very popular but it was true.

"All I need is her word," Tom said sternly. They finally noticed him standing there, hands in his pockets, the file tucked under his arm with an expression on his face that dared any of them to disagree. Judy and Ioki looked uncomfortable when they realized they had been overheard. Doug and Fuller were the only ones who kept a straight face.

"Hanson, I know she's your cousin and you want to believe her but without proof we have nothing to go on. Even if what Penhall is telling us is true. Even if this all does line up with what we already suspected," Fuller said calmly and honestly. Tom's face eased into a less severe set and he licked his lips.

"You told?" he shot at Doug perturbed. He would rather have been the one to break the news to them. He could control what they knew then, and protect Katie's reputation. It was a silly notion under the circumstances but he couldn't help reverting to form. He'd never gotten out of the "big brother" phase when it came to Katie. He didn't think he ever would.

Doug didn't look the least bit chastised. He had done what he had to. There hadn't been time to wait on Tom to get here for the big reveal when he had seen them throwing her in with a blonde woman the size of a man and who looked like one to boot.

"I had to. They have her back there in the same cell as Big Bertha. What if she's right and Raines does try to get someone to knife her while she's back there?"

Tom nodded his understanding. Doug hadn't been wrong to tell Fuller and the others in his absence, he just didn't like how things were turning out.

"Maybe we do have proof. I don't know yet," Tom said gravely. Doug brightened at the mention of proof. He had been forced to watch her be booked and walked to a cell and he'd seen the barely controlled fear in her eyes that it would be the last thing she ever did despite her best efforts to hide it. She had the same habit as Tom of chewing her nails and licking her lips excessively when she was nervous. If he hadn't noticed the same trait in Tom he would have missed it in her.

"You got the file?" he asked eagerly. Tom half nodded and half shook his head in answer.

"I got it, but I haven't had the chance to go through it yet," he admitted. Fuller looked thoughtful.

"You have it with you now?" He asked. Tom shook his head again.

"Yes," he answered holding out a copy of the file they hadn't noticed he was carrying until now. He could tell the wheels in the Captain's head were turning rapidly deciding on the best course of action.

"Hanson. I'm only going to ask you this once and I want your answer as a cop and not Kat's cousin," he told him sternly. "Do you think there's a case here?"

Tom didn't miss a beat in responding, "Yes."

"If what Penhall is telling us Kat told him and you is true this file may be the only chance of proving it. We don't have anything to suggest the money he's got is for something illicit, though I think it is and that report doesn't make a bit of sense," Fuller said.

"Yeah, but wouldn't turning it in with their boss on the way here just ensure it disappeared without a trace? Tom thinks Randall might be involved," Doug put in.

"How can he not be? You think coach would just miss the two of us acting like that? He has to know or at least suspect. And if he does know why hasn't he done anything about it unless he's in on it?" Tom pointed out.

Fuller tilted his head in with a grin. "Who said anything about turning it in? We're going to have to keep the fact that we have the file under wraps for now and try and figure out another way to get Kat out of jail."

"Can't we just bail her out?" Ioki asked perplexed. She wasn't booked on anything as serious as Raines, bail should have been a given.

"No, they've set her bail at twenty five thousand dollars," Judy answered.

"Twenty five thousand on an aggravated assault charge? That's ridiculous! What did they set Raines' at?" Tom protested. That was more than most murderers' bail was set at.

"Fifty thousand. Randall doesn't want either of them going anywhere. They are saying Kat is a flight risk," Judy supplied.

"From what? Attempted murder? All she did is hit him!" Doug huffed. If it wasn't obvious that someone didn't want Katie to make it out of Metropolis Police holding before, it was now.

"This is a set up," Tom growled. Raines and Randall didn't want Katie to ever have the chance to prove what she knew. Subtle tactics hadn't worked, he'd snapped earlier and blown his cover, so he was upping the ante and none of them would ever be able to prove it if it worked.

"Yeah, it is. Tom I want you to make copies of that file. Put the original somewhere safe and don't tell anyone where you put it; not me, not your cousin. If we're dealing with corrupt federal agents this is going to be a hell of a case to prove. We can't risk them getting what may be the only evidence we have. In the meantime, we have to figure out a way to get Kat out of that cell before Raines does manage to get her killed," he instructed Tom.

"Already done sir," Tom answered.

They never got further, the sound of yelling prisoners and cops racing toward the jail area descended on them in a roar. All of them exchanged concerned glances and bolted after them.

#**#

Simultaneously, Katie was getting her first good look at the inside of a jail from the other side of the steel bars. It was at once foreign and disturbingly familiar. The faces on the occupants were angry, embittered, evil and arrogant but the dread that descended on her was the same dread she had felt thrown into a makeshift cage in Rio. Only then, the bars of her cell had been whatever the traffickers and the brothel owner could scrape together. Barbed wire, rebar, wooden planks, these were steel, the construction made no difference. A prison was still a prison. It was like being inside a menagerie of the forgotten and the reviled. Filed neatly away to be warehoused because no one could come up with a better way to deal with them.

Taking in the attitude of the other prisoners Katie swallowed her fear. If there was anywhere showing that fear would get you killed, it was here. Either you made your mark from the moment you walked through the door or you fell to the wolves hungry for fresh meat. These might be women but wolves they were. Honed to ferocity and viciousness by their lives and their crimes, they wouldn't hesitate to initiate the 'new girl' into their ranks by force. That she had learned in Rio.

Her time undercover as a homeless teen and in the clutches of the traffickers had taught her exactly how tough and cruel you had to be to make it among women like these. The world was a cold place. These women were colder. They had to be to survive. All of them wore the same orange jumpsuits as she did and all of them wore either laceless sneakers or no shoes at all. A precaution against murder and suicide among the confined, it was only marginally successful. Where there was a will, there was a way and if there was anything criminals had, it was will.

As the steel bars of her cell slammed with a metallic echo, Katie Hanson ceased to exist. In her place stood the girl who had spent three months on the streets of Rio and lived to tell the tale. This was Kat Green, vagrant, thief, hard as nails, and arrogant. Tom wouldn't have recognized her anymore than Katie would have recognized Tommy McQuaid, if she had ever met him. She cut quite a figure with her haughty attitude and bruised visage. The battering no longer one of a victim but an aggressor who'd picked a mark that got lucky.

The cell was made to hold two inmates, it already held one. A burly blonde woman half again Katie's size and who could have easily been mistaken for a man. Katie draped herself arrogantly onto the board bolted into the wall that served as a bench. The woman watched her every move, measuring her up. Katie pretended not to notice or care. She focused on the guard who had shut the door instead.

"Hey, pretty boy. Let me guess, I missed dinner?" she barked. The guard leveled an irritated look at her. He was more than used to dealing with cocky inmates and Katie knew that he would be. The act was for the inmates not him. While her cellmate was measuring her up, Katie was analyzing her reactions to what she did. She had to know who and what she was dealing with. If Raines did manage to arrange her death, she needed to know what to expect from her cellmate.

"Yeah ya did, but lucky for you they tell me you get a meal anyway," he said mildly. Katie threw him a lopsided smile.

"Oh goody, room service. When do I get my phone call?" she pressed, keeping the devil may care lilt to her voice.

"Worry about your food. Then we'll talk about your phone call," the guard snapped. Luckily, he had no way of knowing this wasn't her normal personality. She had been handed off to him when they buzzed her through the security gates, if he had been the one to book her he would know she had gone through booking as professionally as anyone could have wished. Despite the fear that made her gnaw her finger nails to nubs during it.

"But I want my phone call now," she antagonized the guard. He sighed in renewed annoyance. The blonde woman said nothing, she didn't even move from her spot on the other end of the bench. She just watched.

"People in hell want ice water," the guard quipped back as he turned and walked off. Katie chuckled deeply before calling after him.

"Don't I get a menu?"

All she got in response was a snort of derision from the guard's retreating form. The blonde woman hadn't reacted one way or another, her face as expressionless as stone. Katie leveled a measuring look at her, trying to decide why she was so unresponsive. Normally, given Katie's performance, the woman should have been either thoroughly irritated with her or found her bravado funny. The arrogant street kid who thought they knew it all and believed they'd always get away with whatever it was they had done always got one or the other reaction. If the woman felt either way about it, she didn't show it.

That could mean one of two things, the woman was the type who simply didn't care one way or the other or, the woman knew something she didn't. Katie had spent too long training to be a criminal psychologist and she would bet money it was the latter. She didn't really want to think about what it was the other woman might know that she didn't. She had a feeling her remark about hidden shivs was about to become a prophecy. To cover her contemplation of the woman she quirked a cocky eyebrow and folded her hands behind her head pretending to stare at the ceiling, her legs drawn up with one thrown over the other , foot bobbing in feigned boredom.

The blonde woman just watched her with blue eyes that were as dead and dull as a corpse's. More than one face Katie had passed on the way in here had held the same eyes, nothing mattered to them anymore except themselves. Human life was just another commodity to be bought and sold, or used, to meet their own ends. A person would do a great many things to be free including killing another inmate. It wouldn't take much of a promise for Raines to get one of them to kill her and she knew it.

She thought about it, she could deliberately start a fight with the woman. That would likely get her thrown in solitary confinement and as boring, claustrophobic and dark as it was she would be safe. Then again, if Raines had already set the wheels in motion, she might just as well be stuck in another cell with another inmate and the process would start all over again. If she was right, it was best to wait for the blonde woman to make the first move and hope that she was quick enough to stop her.

"You have a lot of attitude for someone who looks like hamburger meat."

Katie turned her head to look at the woman, surprised she'd actually decided to speak. Katie shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"You should see the other guy." She said casually. The woman leveled that dead stare at her again. It was more than a little creepy.

"I think the other guy got the better end of the deal." The woman responded, an edge of knowing something she shouldn't coloring her voice. Silently Katie quaked inside. She could still be wrong, the woman might just be bluffing her, trying to make her break. You made your mark as soon as you could in here or you sank to the bottom of the heap; that could be all she was doing, she told herself. She licked her lips before answering.

"What makes you say that?" she asked tersely, the faked arrogance just a little harder to make convincing. The woman shrugged as if it made no difference one way or the other. Katie didn't get the chance to press the issue. The guard had returned with her meal.

"Dinner time." He said in a short tone. Katie kept up the façade, wondering if the hoarse croak of her voice was doing more to undermine her act than help it. Pretending to be annoyed that she had to move to get the metal tray her food was on she swaggered to the door. One look at the food made her lip curl in real distain.

"What is it?" she asked picking up the flimsy plastic spoon she had been given to eat with and watching in revulsion as what she thought was supposed to be mashed potatoes dripped off. It looked more like white diarrhea than mashed potatoes.

"Today's special." The guard snickered and walked off. Katie made a mocking face and yelled after him, "Hey, when do I get my phone call?" The guard didn't answer. She gave the food another dubious look before sauntering back to her seat and picking the meal over. She ate what of it she could identify, or what she thought she had identified. She assumed what she'd been given was country fried steak with mashed potatoes, some sort of fruit compote and chocolate pudding, along with a carton of milk. She hoped that's what it was. She was about to start in on the pudding when the woman spoke up again. She had been silent the entire time Katie had been eating.

"You're not going to eat that pudding."

It wasn't a question, it was an order. Katie set down the pudding cup and spoon and gave her a steady look of defiance. "Yeah I am."

"It's mine." The woman said. Katie snorted in mock affront.

"Possession is nine tenths of the law, get your own." She snapped and pretended to ignore her. Instead, she watched under her lashes as she set to ripping off the covering on the pudding cup, careful to keep an eye on her. That's when she saw it. The woman pulled something that looked vaguely pink out of her sock and bolted for her. Katie didn't have more than a second to react and instinct took over. She jumped up and away from the woman's swinging arm, food went everywhere. The woman did have a shiv of something that had once been pink plastic, the home made blade burnt, melted and honed until it was as sharp as a scalpel. Shouts ensued from the other inmates as soon as they realized a fight was in progress.

Katie's sudden jump had landed her standing on the wall-mounted bench and she leapt again as the woman made another swing at her, her arm and the deadly shiv passing harmlessly through thin air under her feet. Katie still had the food tray in her hand, she hadn't thought to drop it when she sprung to her feet. It was the only weapon available and she used it. As the woman drew back to make another swipe at her she leapt down off the bench and swung with the tray at the same time, catching the blonde brute of a woman along the side on the temple and knocking her out cold.

By now, the other inmates were banging on their bars, whooping and cheering the fight on when it was already over. She could hear guards pounding down the corridor of cells frantically. Katie dropped the tray with a clang and pushed the woman's inert form with the toe of her shoe, being sure she was unconscious. She kicked the shiv away from her in case she came to and then remarked to the oblivious woman.

"You really shouldn't play with sharp objects. You could hurt yourself."

#**#

Tom was bringing up the rear of the pack as all five of them crammed their way through the security gate behind the guards, tailing them as closely as they could and not hinder them. Tom heard the sound of something metallic smacking very hard against something fleshy and the cheers and hoots from the inmates got louder.

"You really shouldn't play with sharp objects. You could hurt yourself." It was Katie's voice.

They pelted up behind the guards as everyone came to an abrupt stop outside Katie's cell. Doug's 'Big Bertha' lay sprawled face down and unconscious on the cold cement floor, a shiv made from what had once been a pink plastic toothbrush a few feet away. Katie looked up from the prostrate woman to the guards and Tom. Her face was a carefully schooled mask of indifference, and she looked haughty and arrogant despite the marks that marred her face and arms. The jumpsuit she wore was short-sleeved, making it easy to see the track marks on her arms. She looked like any other drugged out street rat he'd ever busted.

The only thing that betrayed her was the dark flash of fear that flickered in her eyes as her eyes met his. She had been right about Raines trying to kill her. Tom licked his lips in apprehension, if they threw her in a cell with another inmate she might still be at risk. Then the flash of fear was gone again and she cocked a contemptuous smile at the guards, paying Tom no attention. He knew what she was doing. She didn't want anyone to know they knew each other, if another of the inmates realized she was law enforcement it would only make things harder. They might kill her for that alone and Raines wouldn't have to try a second time. He had experienced that first hand. Tom shrugged off the shiver that memory caused.

"I suppose this means I can't get seconds." She popped off, that cocky grin still firmly plastered on her face. If the circumstances had been different Tom would have laughed at the remark. The other four all stood there eyeing the shiv and exchanging glances of concern. Judy and Ioki looked more willing to believe her story with the evidence of a blatant murder attempt right in front of them and Adam's mouth was set in a taut line. Doug threw Tom a worried look but said nothing, laying an understanding hand on his shoulder instead as he saw the worry in Tom's own expression.

The guards didn't see any humor in her remark as Tom and the others looked on, waiting to see what they would do.

"Turn around and place your hands through the bars," one instructed pulling a set of handcuffs from his belt.

"Aw, come on officer. I promise to be a good girl," Katie quipped keeping up the hardened street kid routine. It would make no difference to the guards one way or another, but it might save her life with the inmates. As long as they thought she was one of them she had a chance, however slim it was.

"Yeah right," the guard muttered and motioned for her to comply. Katie let out an annoyed huff and complied, placing her back to the bars and her hands through the slot in them. The guard clicked on the cuffs and opened the door hauling Katie roughly out into the corridor. She winced as the abuse caused a stab of pain in her already bruised arm and made her head reel. Tom had snapped off before he could stop himself.

"Hey, hey, hey! She's got a concussion!" he bit and if Fuller hadn't grabbed his arm to stop him with a subtle shake of his head, he would have pulled the guard away and given him a bigger piece of his mind. Reluctantly, he licked his lips again in anger and relented.

"Call an ambulance for the other one. She hit her pretty hard," the first guard ordered. A second nodded, "Yes sir," pausing with a shake of his head at Katie. "She's as bad as the McQuaid brothers." Katie's brow wrinkled hearing the same name Doug had threatened the arresting officers with.

"McQuaid brothers? I'd like to meet them." she asked as she was pushed down the open end of the corridor. The guard ignored her. Katie acted as if she hadn't noticed but the high, tense set of her shoulders told Tom she was bluffing every bit of her arrogance.

"Are they cute?" she asked. Doug and Tom both choked on a laugh despite the circumstances. It was a completely innocent statement, she had no way of knowing they were the McQuaid brothers.

"Where are you taking her?" Adam called after the officer shoving her along.

"Solitary. She can't cause any more trouble there," the guard called back just before they disappeared around the corner. Only Tom noticed the way her shoulders relaxed and her head hung just a little in relief. Solitary meant safety, as dismal as it was. Doug gave a shake of dislike at the word. He'd had the bad experience of being thrown in solitary during a case and Doug was very claustrophobic. To him solitary was hell.

"Well, she was right about the murder attempt," Doug observed pinning Judy and Ioki with a look to make his point. If there was any doubt in their minds that what Katie had said was true, he hoped now it was gone. Both had the grace not to say anything in response, instead they looked away in chagrin. Tom was still looking down the hallway where Katie had gone, the lines in his face set in thought. Quietly Adam herded them all back out the security gate and they stood just outside it talking in hushed whispers.

"She was right about the shiv, but how'd the other woman get it? The men's and women's blocks are separate. Raines wouldn't have even have had the chance to slip it to her in the yard," Tom voiced. Not that he really needed an answer; he already knew there was only one way the woman could have gotten it that quickly. One of the guards would have to have been bribed to do it. It was the only way.

"I'd say Raines bribed a guard," Fuller answered him, but he knew Tom had already thought of it from the look in his eyes.

"Question is which one and will he be able to bribe another one before we can get her out?" Judy said. Tom's brow furrowed in worry that they wouldn't.


	10. Chapter 9: Bad Samaritan

**Chapter 9: Bad Samaritan**

With nothing else he could do, Tom had left shortly after the ambulance had taken 'Big Bertha' away to be treated for a concussion. Katie had given her one hell of a wallop with that food tray. He did the only other thing he could do, he went home. He slept but it was fitful at best. Morning came and went. As soon as he'd gotten up and dressed he grabbed the original of Katie's file, then swung by the bank and stashed it in a safety deposit box. No one had access to it except him, if Raines or Randall wanted it they'd have to go through him to get it.

He spent the rest of the afternoon going over the copy, using his coffee table as a desk while nursing one cup of coffee after another, and still came up empty. So far nothing had popped out at him as out of the ordinary but the file was more than five hundred pages of information, much of it in Katie's neat and even script where she had already researched what he was going over. He still had a lot of material to go through but he wasn't getting any closer than she had and it nagged at him that if he didn't find it soon enough it would be too late. Tom buried his head in his hands and threw the pencil he'd been taking his own notes with on the coffee table in disgust. He was saved from shoving the entire stack of papers off the table in frustration by the phone ringing. Tom clambered over the couch and grabbed the phone before the machine could pick up.

"Hello?"

"Randall's here. You better get down here. He's about to have Kat hauled into interrogation," Doug's voice told him on the other end.

"On my way," Tom answered, pulling on his coat as he hung up the phone and darting out the door.

#**#

Meanwhile, Katie spent the time Tom spent trying to find a connection she hadn't staring at four cement walls with nothing but herself for company. Unlike Doug, Katie was not claustrophobic. It wasn't the small space that was getting to her. It was the dark and the quiet and the morbid reminder of being locked in a cell very like it in Rio, wondering when the next person would open the door and what horror that meant was coming. When she'd been locked in with the blonde woman she'd been too worried about where the next attempt on her life would come from, alone she had more time to think than she cared for. She alternated between sitting in the corner, her head rested on her knees in an attempt to ignore the memories and pacing like a caged animal when she couldn't. With no one to see her, she let go just a little. She was afraid, very afraid. Every ounce of terror she'd bottled up threatening to explode.

She was pacing again in frantic circles when the door opened. She bolted backward out of instinct and it took her a moment to remember this was not Rio and the man standing at the door had not come to use her body or shove a needle in her arm to keep her compliant. The guard gave her a confused look before speaking.

"Someone's here to see you," he said, stepping forward to escort her out in cuffs. With a deep breath Katie let him put the handcuffs on and straightened her back knowing that someone had to be Randall.

#**#

Tom came flying into the police headquarter's parking lot, vaulted out of the car and into the building, stopping just inside the entrance long enough to spot Doug and the others. He wound his way through the lobby to them and looked expectant.

"Randall's waiting on her to be brought in right now. He's in room three," Ioki said.

"Did he say anything?" Tom asked. Fuller shook his head.

"Not a word."

"He bring anybody with him?" Tom asked.

"No, he came alone. I expected him to bring agents from the Office of Professional Responsibility with him but he didn't." Fuller answered. That backed what they already suspected. If Randall was involved and he wouldn't want the higher ups to know what had happened. If they started prying they might find out what he and Raines had done.

Tom didn't wait for anything else. He slapped Doug on the chest with the back of his hand and headed for the interrogation suite. "Come on."

"They aren't going to let you go back there Hanson," Judy called after them.

"Who said anything about asking for permission?" Tom called back and disappeared through a door leading to the interrogation rooms.

Doug and Tom made their way casually down the hall way as if they belonged there until they got to the interrogation rooms. Seeing officers and guards coming up the hallway from both directions they ducked into a side hall and flattened themselves against the wall.

"You find anything in that file?" Doug asked in a whisper while they waited for the path to clear. Tom shook his head keeping a look out.

"Not yet."

"What are we doin'?" Doug asked perfectly willing to go along with whatever it was but not knowing exactly why they were doing it.

"I want to know what they say," Tom said and motioned for Doug to follow, the hall had just cleared. They crept along trying to look inconspicuous, a guard turned the corner with Katie escorted along in front of him as they came on the one Randall was waiting in. With a hiss of alarm, Tom skittered into the observation room adjacent to it with Doug in tow. Silently they shut the door and flipped the switch on the speaker that would allow them to listen to what Randall and Katie said. Both of them hunkered down below the two way mirror, backs to the wall.

They heard the interrogation room door open and heard the grating click as Katie's cuffs where removed. Then the guard shut the door again and waited outside in case he was needed.

"Why are we hiding?" Doug asked in a whisper.

"Because we aren't supposed to be here," Tom said incredulous.

"But it's a two way mirror. They can't see us," Doug pointed out. Tom looked slightly embarrassed. He was so focused on not being caught it had slipped his mind that no one could see them.

"Oh, right," he said sheepishly as he got to his feet. Katie was just sitting down at the table, rubbing her wrists where the cuffs had been, a stony expression on her face. She said nothing, she just leveled a piercing glare at Randall who was perched on the edge of the table with an air of indifference. Randall peered back with a look that was just as icy.

"Agent Hanson, I hope you are feeling alright," he said. Katie's head tilted back in contempt. Her eyes dark and foreboding

"I've been better," she said her voice low and tense. Randall got up and walked around the room, Katie's eyes never left him.

"I'm sure you have. Agent Hanson, would you like to tell me exactly what is going on here?" he asked stopping at the edge of the table and leaning toward her imposingly. Katie just looked down her nose at him.

"Raines thought I'd look better with a black and blue neck tie," she breathed, her temper flaring and setting her eyes alight. Randall looked surprised.

"I send two of my best agents up here on a very important case only to be called and told they are trying to kill each other in what amounts to a bar brawl. Now I want to know what's going on," he snapped.

"Why don't you ask Nick? He was the one who tried to kill me not the other way around," Katie snapped back angrily, unable to keep her temper in check.

"I can see that Hanson but why? Agent Raines was drunk but trying to kill you seems a bit extreme," Katie gave him a befuddled look. Did he really not realize one of his own agents was dirty? Could he really be that blind? Behind the two-way mirror, Doug and Tom exchanged a look as confused as Katie's.

"Rio might have something to do with it." Katie bit in frustration. Randall creased his brows, causing his receding hairline of short-cropped dark hair to creep forward on his scalp.

"What has Rio got to do with anything? That was over more than six months ago Hanson. Never mind, the why doesn't matter. I'm having Raines drop the charges on you and taking him into custody. I'll see that he's punished for his crimes and gets the help he needs. He obviously has a drinking problem," Randall said brushing off Katie's reference to Rio with a wave of his hand.

"Just like that? That's it? You aren't even curious why I said Rio might have something to do with why he tried to choke the life out of me?" Katie asked. His avoidance of the subject set off alarms in her head. People only avoided subjects they didn't want to talk about because it made them uncomfortable or made them afraid.

"Raines has gone off his rocker that's obvious. He's a danger to the case and you. For whatever reason. What I need to know is can you still work this case?" he asked again completely ignoring the mention of Rio. Katie knew he was deliberately avoiding it. He seemed to have forgotten what it was she had been trained in. Katie played along and waited to see what Special Agent Randall would do next. He flat did not want to hear why Raines had tried to kill her and that told her he already knew why. Tom knew it too as they watched from the observation room unnoticed.

"If he doesn't know Raines is dirty, why doesn't she tell him?" Doug asked confused.

"Because she knows he knows. He keeps avoiding talking about Rio on purpose. He already knows why Raines tried to kill her," Tom pointed out.

"Of course I can," Katie answered watching him intently. Randall smiled and clapped her on the shoulder but the smile didn't reach his eyes. She fought the urge to shrink away from the touch because she knew he was hiding something and she had a good idea she knew what that something was.

"Good, I'm having another agent replace Raines. His name is Martin Parker. He's not much in the field but he's a surveillance specialist. Since that's all he'll be doing he doesn't need to be that good with weapons. He's not as experienced as Raines but he is very good at his job. He'll be down the day after tomorrow. That will give you a couple of days to get back on your feet. You'll be the agent in charge on this case," he went on. Katie cocked an eyebrow at that. He was being careless, very careless. This was only her second case in the field but he was making her the agent in charge?

"You're just going to let me be in charge of this one? After the whole debacle in Rio?" she asked calling him on it. He looked unfazed by her question.

"That wasn't your fault Agent Hanson. You were afraid, you were out there too soon and I understand that. You've been through a lot since you got out of 'Casa das Bonecas'. I think you should have a chance to prove yourself and this is the perfect opportunity," Randall explained in a logical tone. Katie pinned him with a hard stare.

"The House of Dolls?" Doug muttered from their vantage point.

"What?" Tom asked. He didn't speak an ounce of Spanish.

"Casa das Bonecas means The House of Dolls," Doug answered.

"How do you know that?" Tom asked, though the translation set his hair on end. Katie had said the brothel she had been sold into had been named something with the word dolls in it…in Portuguese.

"There was this Portugese dub of 'The Valley of the Dolls' on a couple weeks ago. I couldn't sleep so I watched it," Doug explained. Tom gave Doug a strange look for his choice in TV viewing but returned his attention to the interrogation room when Katie started to speak again.

"You're part of it," Katie accused as realization dawned on her. The name of the brothel she had been sold into had not been included in any report she had filed once she had gotten out. She couldn't remember enough of the name to include it.

"What?" Randall asked feigning confusion in an attempt to hide his slip. It was so obvious from the stricken expression he had instead he might as well have written it in huge letters for all to see.

"I never gave the name of the brothel," she said, her voice calm and cool. Tom recognized that tone. It was the same one he used when he knew he had someone dead to rights. Randall pretended to be confused, but now there was an edge of anger to his voice. He'd slipped and now he knew Katie knew without a doubt that he was involved along with Raines.

"I knew it!" Tom growled through clenched teeth. The statement was equal parts vehement anger and triumph that he'd been right.

"What kind of game are you playing now?" Randall spat desperately trying to deflect suspicion off himself. Katie canted her head slightly and crossed her arms.

"Wouldn't you like to know," She snipped. She was not giving ground not now. She hadn't been sure before but now she was.

"You don't have anything on me. If you did you wouldn't be in here," Randall snarled anger making his lips loose.

Katie said nothing for a few moments. Instead she stared him down unblinking. Daring him to crumble under the accusing look and watched him wriggle like a worm under a magnifying glass.

"Are you sure about that?" Katie quipped haughtily. She didn't not really. Not unless Tom did find something in that file she had missed and now more than ever she prayed he would find something she had missed. Before she, Tom and Doug ended up dead.

Randall turned red in the face and huffed in rage before he stalked out the door.

"The charges are being dropped. Let her go. Arrange for Agent Raines to be released to my custody," he barked at the guard who'd escorted her in and had waited just outside the door.

"It would be in your best interest to forget about Rio Agent Hanson. For you and your friends," he hissed. Then he stormed off down the hallway without another word to anyone.

Katie kept her composure only long enough for Randall to disappear down the hall before she turned white as a sheet and wilted like a flower in too much heat She didn't know Tom and Doug were listening on the other side of the mirror. Katie leaned her head on to her folded arms as the tension gave way to relief that she was being released and absolute terror that Randall and Raines wouldn't stop. Now they would be after Tom and Doug as well as her.

Tom and Doug watched Katie crumble under the pressure. They both knew that last statement of Randall's had been a thinly veiled death threat. They couldn't prove it and they couldn't use anything they'd heard. They weren't supposed to be listening in the first place but now they knew and just because they couldn't use it against them it didn't mean they couldn't use it to their advantage. Forewarned was fore armed.

It didn't take long for the guard to cuff her again and escort Katie out of interrogation. She trudged along in a half daze. The heights of human emotions can't sustain themselves, they ebb and flow, breaking like a wave when they crest on the peak of tolerance. It's nature's way of trying to maintain a stable balance, to ensure the continued sanity of its life forms. It was obvious Katie had reached that peak, thrown back and forth through fear, anger, suspicion, obsession and relief like a piece of debris in a hurricane.

Tom and Doug watched her go, slipping quietly out of the observation room and back out into the lobby as soon as they could. They told Fuller and the others everything they had heard while Katie was being processed out.

"So we have some questions answered, and fifty new ones when we haven't answered all the ones we had in the first place," Ioki said in irritation. Apparently, his doubts had been removed, he no longer seemed to be walking the fence about whose side to be on.

"That about sums it up. All we can do is wait and see what comes of it. I think Randall wants Raines out of here before he can screw up anything else. They both slipped. Until we have some idea of what Randall has planned we're just going to have to go over that file and hope we come up with something to prove their crooked before Randall can do anything," Fuller put in, "Until then we've got a case to work."

The security gate buzzed and Katie walked through it, dressed in what she'd been brought in wearing. Tom grimaced inwardly, if he'd known they would release her, he would have at least brought her clothes to change into. Katie looked weary and tapped out. Too much too fast. Tom couldn't blame her. She made her way over, walking slowly as if each step was a concerted effort of will. With the immediate threat gone, the adrenalin and fear that had sustained her fled, leaving just a very tired, very dismal woman in its wake.

"Somebody needs to get that girl a bed, a hot meal and a bubble bath," Judy said only half joking.

"I think it's gonna take more than that," Doug responded with a grin at his coworker. Judy always knew how to turn a serious phrase into a sardonically humorous quip.

"Gotta start somewhere," Judy rebuked.

"Captain, I think I should warn you. Randall…," Katie began, her voice hoarse and thin. Adam cupped her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately.

"I know. Tom and Doug were in the observation room the whole time. Don't worry about it right now. Let Tom take you home and get some rest," he told her, his voice was warm and soft but firm. She slumped a little, obvious relief that she wouldn't have to relay everything that had just gone on written all over her dispirited frame.

Tom reached out his arm to enfold her in it but Doug stopped her briefly. Sliding his coat off and draping it over her shoulders again to shut out the cold and to hide her exposed back, covering the brand peaking from behind the thin material of the hospital gown. She was so exhausted she'd barely managed to get it on much less tie it properly. Fuller, Hoffs and Ioki did their best not to show they'd seen it or the revulsion it imbued in them.

Katie looked up at Doug with thankful and doleful eyes. He smiled gently at her, patting her shoulder before Tom wrapped her in a protective embrace, shooting Doug a warning glance. Doug only grinned back. Tom looked for something to brighten her mood, something to say that would help break the tension. He cocked a lopsided grin as he found it.

"Come on, let a McQuaid Brother buy you dinner," he joked. That got her attention despite her enervated demeanor.

"McQua…? You're one of the..?" She babbled in surprise. Tom smiled and nodded.

"Yep, me and Doug," Tom affirmed. That provoked the inevitable declaration of…

"The McQuaid Brothers! HA!" Complete with hand slapping. Katie looked between them while the others looked on. Then she managed a wiry grin of her own, weak as it was. Her eyebrow quirked up and she tilted her head a bit as if considering.

"Well, at least one of you is cute," she popped off. Tom and Doug exchanged a look.

"Which one?" Tom asked.

Katie screwed her face up into the best impression of a grossed out ten year old Tom had seen in years.

"You're my cousin. I can't think _you're_ cute!" she explained.

Everyone laughed at them. Doug was smiling that stupid smile of his so hard it looked like it might stick that way. Tom smiled widely despite the fact that Katie had just managed to flirt with Doug, turn the tables on him and again thwart his attempts to keep Doug at a romantic distance from her in one fail swoop. There was a little bit of the Katie he knew bubbling through. He wouldn't have traded it for the world.


	11. Segue: The Road Back

**Segue: The Road Back**

Katie never got the bubble bath. By the time Tom had swung by the pharmacy to pick up her prescription, grabbed her something to eat to go at the local White Spot and gotten her home, he had to shake her awake to get her inside. She ate in relative silence more focused on the food and the prospect of sleep than conversation. It was just as well, he barely had time enough to make up the bed while she ate than he came back to find her fast asleep, her head laid on the kitchen table. He prodded her awake again and steered her toward the bedroom, then tucked her in with a gentle kiss on the forehead.

Katie slept like a stone. For a full twelve hours Tom didn't hear so much as the rustle of sheets from inside his bedroom. As for Tom, he didn't sleep, he kept searching through Katie's file trying to find something that proved what they already knew. He still wasn't having any luck. Nothing looked suspect, everything seemed to be just as it should be on the surface. Reports, receipts, itineraries, you name it, it was there. Despite that something about it didn't sit right, he couldn't place his finger on it but something nagged at him.

Tom and Katie spent a quiet day the next day. Katie propped up on the couch watching of all things, Woody the Woodpecker reruns and a marathon of Star Trek between bouts of sleep, since he wouldn't let her do anything but follow doctor's orders. They refrained from talking about Randall, Raines or the case. If Katie had even brought it up he would have refused to discuss it. He wanted what little time she had before the new agent came in to allow her some recuperation. She needed at least a day to just forget. It wouldn't be enough but at least it was something.

A short phone call to Captain Fuller had proven he felt the same way, so until the new agent got here the case waited. Adam was having no better luck with his copy of the file than Tom was. Tom kept working on it anyway, moving his workspace to the kitchen table so Katie wouldn't chance seeing it and be tempted to join in. It wasn't until that night that the nightmares started.

Tom had finally given up on going through the file for the night and fallen asleep on the couch. Katie had retired to his bedroom again looking only slightly less weary than before. Her eye had begun to go down and the bruises on her face and neck had begun to fade to green, brown and yellow mottling instead of black, blue and purple. Her voice was almost normal. That made the blood-curdling scream that woke him that much louder.

Tom sat bolt upright, kicking off the blanket he had over him and scrambling to his feet out of pure instinct. It took him a moment to realize that the scream had come from inside his apartment. He rushed into his bedroom to see what was going on to find Katie staring into the void, the sheets clutched to her like a shield and drenched in a cold sweat. He approached her cautiously, trying to pull her back to reality with a careful touch. She jerked when his hand met her arm. Blinking and panting as she realized that she was safe in Tom's bed and not where ever her nightmare had taken her.

"It was a nightmare Katie. It's okay," he soothed. It took a few seconds but slowly the terror in her eyes faded and her breathing returned to normal. She ran her hand through her sodden hair and let out a jagged breath composing herself. He could almost see the wall she built around what she didn't want to remember go up brick by brick. He had a feeling it was more than time that she faced her demons. She'd shelved them for too long trying to stay alive and forget what happened. Fed them with her obsession and her fear.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just, uh, the memories they keep coming back. They won't go away," she admitted softly. Tom winced in sympathy. He knew he couldn't make the memories and fears that haunted her fade out. He still had nightmares about his time in prison, he couldn't even tell her one day they would go away. He wasn't sure they would.

"I wish I could help," he whispered despondently. She wiped the sweat from her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Her eyes lingered there, trailing up her arm. She drew back the cloth and traced the darkened veins there. Tom wasn't sure if she was remembering what had been done to her or if it was something more. The way she gazed at the dark lines was eerie, a combination of revulsion and desire.

Katie knew. That hunger gnawed at her, whispered that she could make it go away. All she had to do was give in. That voice from the woman in the mirror murmuring that it wasn't over. That now Tom and Doug were in danger too. That she knew there was no way she could win.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't keep fighting to keep the memories buried," she rasped still enthralled by the grayish lines then it was gone again, beaten back by the will that had fought it for six months and managed to keep from succumbing to that seductive call. So far.

"You don't have to," Tom assured her placing a warm hand on her shoulder. She chuckled darkly in response pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them.

"What else am I supposed to do? I've spent so long doing it I don't know any other way to cope."

"You can't ignore it forever," Tom said. Katie switched off. He didn't know how else to describe it. One second she was vulnerable and desperate, the next she had closed herself off and hidden any inkling of what she was thinking.

"I'll get a hotel room tomorrow," she said, her voice as normal as she could make it. Tom shook his head firmly.

"No. You are not going back to a hotel. What if Raines or Randall try to kill you again? I don't think you need to be alone right now," Tom insisted. He was not letting her run off on her own when she was in more need of a shoulder to lean on than he'd ever seen her. Even if she wasn't willing to acknowledge it.

"You're doing enough. Can't expect you to fix what you didn't break," she said with a head shake.

"Katie," Tom protested.

"I…" she started to argue at the same time. There was a pregnant pause.

"I'd like to try. If you'll let me," Tom offered.

"But I can't face it. I can't remember anymore Tommy!" Katie cried, the self-imposed wall breaking down around her like shattered glass.

Tom grabbed her arms and shook her gently.

"Listen to me. I'm not letting you go Katie. You aren't alone anymore," he told her, searching her eyes for acceptance. It must have been the right thing to say. She sighed as if someone had taken a physical burden off her shoulders, her muscles relaxed under his hands and he pulled her into a one armed hug.

She rested her head on his shoulder and the embrace helped to fill the void that she hadn't known existed. That empty place that she ignored in favor of trying to stay alive, attempting to bury the memories, hunger and fear. Succor.

"You know Raines and Randall aren't going to stop," Katie said after a long moment.

"I know."

"What do we do about it?" she asked still nestled under his arm. Tom let out a sigh.

"Keep trying to find something to prove their dirty before they can do anything for right now."

"And if we can't?"

"Then we cross that bridge when we get to it," Tom answered. To be honest he didn't know what they were going to do if they couldn't prove that Raines and Randall were dirty. They weren't going to let things lie, sooner or later they'd try to get rid of her again. They'd probably try to get rid of both of them.

"I hate sitting around doing nothing," Katie complained.

"Yeah it sucks," Tom admitted.

They looked at each other at that moment and both smiled. Just a little more of the Katie that Tom knew peaked through at him in that smile. It wasn't going to be easy and God knew what it was he was supposed to do. But he would be there, right beside her on the road back.


	12. Chapter 10: Back To School

**Chapter 10: Back To School**

Wednesday morning dawned cold and dreary. It was now averaging thirty degrees during the day and mid to low teens at night. The rain had turned to sleet. Road workers could be seen on every other street corner, salting the roads to help melt the ice that covered them like black glass. It was all a rather apt reflection of Tom and Katie's moods despite the relative safety they had at the moment. They tried their best to keep it at bay with friendly banter but it was only marginally successful.

A single day of rest was paltry compensation. When combined with the tension of not talking about Randall and Raines, who loomed over their heads like the gray clouds that hovered thick in the sky, the lack of finding anything in the file and Katie's nightmares, it paled considerably. Today they had three purposes. Discuss the cases, get Katie a new car since she'd returned the BMW and meet this new agent Randall had sent.

They had already taken care of the car. Katie was driving them to the chapel and Tom was resisting the urge to tease her unmercifully. With their talk and the release Katie felt after telling Tom what had kept her so close lipped before, she had loosened up a bit. Cars were one of the things they couldn't agree on and she'd been giving him warning but friendly glares since she'd rented it. Daring him to say something.

"I can't believe you rented a Ford Taurus," he said with a snicker.

"Okay, don't start. It's practical and it's large enough for all of us, At least it's a Ford" Katie said turning into the chapel parking lot.

"It's practical? Careful you're turning into Carol Brady," Tom picked as they got out of the car. Katie scowled at him good naturedly.

"Now wait a minute. I still have the Thunderbird at home. I am not Carol Brady," she protested as they made their way inside.

"The Mustang is faster," Tom insisted smiling. Katie grinned back; this was an age-old argument for the two of them. Neither of them ever won.

"The Thunderbird has more class," she shot. Tom feigned affront as he opened the door.

"Are you saying I have no class?"

"I dunno, you tell me," she joked. Tom was glad to see she could joke now. No longer being alone in this was doing her a world of good. He just hoped it stayed that way.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're in better spirits today Agent Hanson," Fuller remarked as they approached the meeting table through the press of officers and clerks going about their business.

"It's laugh or cry Captain. I've done plenty of the latter. Thought I'd try the former for a while," Katie said as she and Tom took their places.

The jovial teasing was genuine and it felt good to be joking with Tom like old times. But it was still a thin mask to cover the fear she felt, the agony of waiting for the next shoe to fall. Just another way to hide from her past and pretend she didn't have to deal with it. No matter what Tom said, she wasn't sure she could face it. No, she wasn't alone in it anymore, but at the same time, no matter how much Tom wanted to help, there was a lot of it that she'd only be able to get through on her own and she wouldn't be able to do that until she knew this was over.

"How are you feeling?" Doug asked, the question carried more meaning than just her physical well-being. Doug's eyes conveyed that but Katie deliberately disregarded it. She was too private to air her personal demons to anyone. Tom had had to drag it out of her and she'd known him her whole life.

"Better. Still get a bit dizzy if I'm not careful," she answered dismissively but not unkindly.

"About that, how are you going to explain all the bruises?" Fuller asked pulling the conversation to business. Katie shrugged.

"I guess I just became an abused foster kid. Shouldn't be too hard to play the meek, afraid to report the abuse type. That'll just up the desirability factor. Kids who take a beating and keep their mouths shut about it are appealing to these guys," Katie said.

"And if the other teachers start asking questions?" Judy said.

"Then I deny it. Abused kids do it all the time. The old I walked into a door excuse. If they want to bring in law enforcement we can always cover that."

"You're under a lot of stress right now are you sure you can handle this?" Fuller asked, real concern showing in the lines of his face.

"There are six kids missing and probably more to come. I can't just sit here and do nothing. I know what those kids are headed for first hand. This is the only chance we have of getting them back and stopping the traffickers," Katie said. It was the truth. She couldn't willfully sit by knowing that her inaction because she was afraid of Raines and Randall might cost others their lives or at the very least their freedom. It just wasn't part of her nature. It was why she had tried to run and now it was why she stayed. She'd be damned if innocent people were going to end up victimized because of what she didn't do. Fuller listened and paused before he spoke again, considering how to put what he wanted to say next.

"I'm not your boss so I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. But we have a staff psychologist, it might do you some good to make an appointment," he suggested. Katie shook her head.

"And tell them what? I spent six months getting 'help'. It didn't work and it's not going to until this is over."

Adam nodded in understanding. She was right to a degree. The healing process couldn't start until what caused the problem to begin with was in the past. But, he couldn't help being concerned that this might all prove to be too much and send her over the edge. He'd seen tougher people pushed that far.

"Alright, you're the new agent in charge. How do you want to work this?" Adam asked. All eyes were on her and Katie briefly felt like bolting. She wasn't sure she was ready to be the one in charge.

"Basically the same, but I really want to get Walker's phone tapped, if he's talking to anyone that's the most likely place he'll do it from. A repair man would be the best option," she explained.

"Agreed, I can do that. Anything else?" Fuller asked.

"I'd like to leave Judy and Ioki off the Hunter's Gulch case. I think they should tail this new agent, make sure he's not in with Raines and Randall. See if they can find out something about who he is," Katie said.

"I was thinking the same thing. You've got a lot of potential Hanson. You're already doing a better job than Raines was."

"No. Raines knew what he was doing. He just got careless because he was desperate," Katie said with a shake of her head.

"Now about Raines, we have a few questions about him we never had a chance to ask," Fuller continued.

"Okay."

"Tom and Doug found a brief case full of money in Raines' room and he gave them this report he said you wrote," Fuller said passing the report over. Katie looked confused and took it flipping through it carefully.

"I didn't write this."

"We know that. Do you know why he would have said you did?" Doug asked. Katie shook her head again.

"No clue. This is a secondary check report on surveillance equipment. What the bureau gets when someone else checks over the equipment the first guy set up. In an undercover operation these aren't usually done, there's rarely time. I've never done one of these."

"He said you wrote it during your last case. He gave it to us so we'd stop asking questions. Said we would be using the same set up this time," Tom said.

"You asked him questions? This isn't the same set up we used last time. It is the set up we intended to use this time though," Katie said perplexed.

"We sorta made up a reason to try and find out if he'd tell us why you were so scared," Doug admitted, casting his eyes away. Katie only gave him and Tom a put upon sigh. She'd known Tom wouldn't let it go. She should have expected he would have tried something. She couldn't be mad at either of them under the circumstances.

"What about the money?" Harry asked. Katie shrugged.

"I have no idea. Unless he was going to pay off somebody for something."

"Okay, but who and for what?" Tom said.

"You're guess is as good as mine."

"Any luck finding out who the guard was that got the shiv to Big Bertha?" Doug asked, directing his question at the Captain. He mimicked Katie shaking his head.

"Nope, no one's talking. We'll probably never know which of them it was. Kat's out of there now so it isn't a priority. You having any luck with that file Tom?" Tom shook his head too. This was getting them nowhere fast.

"Nope, you?"

"Nada. Keep looking, as much stuff as there is in there, there's bound to be something," Fuller said.

"I spent six months obsessing over it. I doubt you're going to find anything I didn't," Katie said firmly believing she'd scrubbed the file for every ounce of information it could give her. She didn't know Tom had made copies of the original or that he'd locked it away.

"You might be surprised Agent Hanson," Adam said with a grin. He'd spent twelve years undercover. You didn't spend that long pretending to be someone you weren't in situations where a word out of line would get you killed and not find evidence lurking in places no one else would look, sometimes right under your nose.

"Now we get to hurry up and wait," Doug complained.

"Nothing else we can do until Raines or Randall do something. They left right after you did. Didn't say a word to anyone," Harry said.

"Well guys, I guess that wraps it up. You've got your orders," Fuller said ending the meeting.

The door to the chapel squeaked open and a voice called to them through the buzz of activity.

"Hello?" The voice was attached to a lanky, very short, bright red haired man, in his late twenties, dressed in a short sleeve button down, a tie and slacks. A FBI ID dangled from the pocket of his shirt. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a lab at MIT.

"Looks like your new partner is here," Judy observed with a chuckle.

"Oh my god, it's Poindexter," Doug said.

"He sent me a nerd!" Katie said in exasperation. When Randall had said that Martin Parker wasn't much in the field she hadn't thought that this is what he meant. This guy looked like he wouldn't know which end of a gun to point with much less how to shoot it. Then again, his bookish appearance could be deceptive, if he was a plant it could be meant to make them dismiss him out of hand as harmless.

"What's wrong Katie? You're a nerd," Tom teased. Katie pointed a finger at him as the red haired man made his way over to them.

"I am not a nerd!" she insisted.

"You're a criminal psychologist. You're a nerd," Tom quipped.

"Okay fine. But I'm a nerd with a gun," Katie shot back.

"She's got you there Tom," Harry laughed. Tom grinned and nodded, though he didn't look a bit abashed as the short man came within hearing distance.

"Hi, I'm Martin Parker. They said I'd find Agent Hanson over here?" the red head introduced himself, blinking very green eyes at them.

"That'd be me," Katie said extending her hand to shake his. He smiled at her and took it.

"Nice to meet you Agent Parker," she greeted.

"Oh, I'm not an Agent," Parker said surprised. Katie blinked. So did everyone else.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm a special consultant. Four years experience in surveillance equipment operation," he explained.

"You have some field experience?" Katie asked in astonishment.

"Yes though not much. I haven't had the chance," the man admitted.

"Why?" Tom asked interjecting into the conversation.

"Well, I'm not very good with a gun. Will I be going into the field this time?" Parker asked enthusiastically. Katie shook her head emphatically. There was no way she was taking anyone in that didn't know what they were doing out there. They'd only get themselves or someone else killed.

"Oh no, you're going to stay right here and push buttons. Not tailing anyone, no playing hero. Got it?" she told him. He looked crestfallen. This was grand, Randall had deliberately sent her a gung ho cowboy with absolutely no idea what he'd be getting himself into.

"I had intended to set up in a building across from the school, Andrew Walker's house is only a block away. That will allow me to watch both locations and see who he interacts with not just who he talks to. It leaves out the community center but that's two out of three. I've already been briefed," Parker said pulling a paper out of his pocket and handing it to Katie whose eyebrows were raised in surprise at his knowledge of the case. Katie looked it over and inclined her head in reluctant agreement.

"You're right this would be the best position to set up from. I'll allow it but you don't leave that building to chase after anybody. I don't care how many portable eaves dropping toys you have. You call in one of us. Is that understood?" Katie said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," Parker said with a disappointed air.

"How long before you can be set up?" Fuller asked.

"By the end of the night. I'm very good at my job," Parker said with no little pride in his inflection.

"Well he's anything but humble," whispered Doug so only Tom and Katie could hear.

"That's what worries me," Katie muttered.

#**#

Martin Parker, or Parker as he preferred to be called, was just as good at his job as he said he was. By that night, he had more equipment set up and ready than Raines had even brought with him. Portable mics meant to be used in hiding very near a moving suspect, telescopes that made the family eating their dinner a block away look like they were right next to you, listening devices and receivers that sounded like you were in the same room as the conversationalist.

His over eager attitude not withstanding he was very affable. He knew what he was doing; he had a quick wit and a sharp sense of humor. Overall, he seemed like an all around type of guy. He wasn't nearly as big a nerd as appearances first led the team to believe, he just had no fashion sense and didn't seem to care if you liked it or not.

And his background checked out. Judy and Harry could find nothing that didn't fit what he'd said. In fact what he hadn't said only made him sound less like a possible suspect and more like he was there to do his job and had no clue about Randall or Raines. Four years experience in surveillance expertise, graduated top of his class at MIT (big surprise), and had commendations for exceptional work in the assistance of the FBI in three different sting operations.

The only drawback was his lack of weapons skill. He did fine as long as the target was immobile and didn't resemble a person, stick a cardboard cutout of a human in front of him and he only shot after deliberating it so long he'd have been dead if the opponent were real, set him against a real person and he froze, unable to pull the trigger. That was what kept him out of the field. He had tried to go through the academy but his hesitancy when faced with a real threat had caused him to fail and be relegated to special consultant instead.

He was also woefully naïve. He really believed he would be fine in the field if given the chance. He honestly thought the heroes ran in guns blazing to save the day, without a single thought for their own safety, and that it would all turn out okay. Axel Foley was his hero. Martin Parker had seen one too many movies.

So it was with a little less reservation that Parker was a plant and a little more that he might try something stupid that Tom, Doug and Katie hit the books the next morning.

"Now I remember how much I hated High School," Katie groaned as the door to the principal's office closed behind her. Tom and Doug stood outside waiting for her, holding back barely contained laughter. They'd both been trying to keep from saying anything since they'd caught the bus to school. As foster kids they couldn't drive their own cars, they were supposed to be too poor for that.

"What's so funny?" she asked shifting her newly acquired books and class schedule into a more comfortable position.

"You're just very…pink," Doug said and snickered. Katie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah I know. I look like the bargain store version of Whitney," she said. She was dressed in jeans splattered with paint, a bubble gum pink blouse and her hair in a crimped side ponytail held by a poofy pink scrunchie. Her makeup didn't do all that much to hide the bruising to her face and neck, but it had faded considerably. So far no one had said anything about it.

"Whitney?" Tom asked. Doug supplied an answer for him.

"Yeah Barbie's best friend. Ya know the doll?"

Both Katie and Tom gave Doug a strange look.

"Why do you know that?" Tom asked, his hair falling in a mess over his forehead.

"Do we really want to know?" Katie cautioned.

"No," Tom agreed.

"I was gonna say you looked like Debbie Gibson," Tom added mischievously. Katie scoffed.

"You don't even look like you combed your hair this morning!"

"I didn't," Tom admitted.

"So who are you to be giving me fashion advice?" Katie protested.

"You have mall bangs!" Tom shot.

"I think she looks cute," Doug said with a shrug. Katie gave Tom a smirk and looped her arm through Doug's.

"See, I'm cute. I'm standing over here with him. He appreciates my fashion sense," Katie teased. Doug grinned widely and Tom shot him a dirty look. Why did Katie insist on flirting with the man that he was trying to keep away from her?

"Okay okay what class is Walker teaching?" Tom said to change the subject. Doug still gave him a smug smile. Katie didn't seem to notice the exchange, looking at her schedule.

"Civics."

"We have to pretend to fail civics?" Tom said incredulous. Of all the classes none of them were likely to fail civics was it. As law enforcement officers, they had to know the law and how it worked backwards and forwards.

"Guess that means you don't get to show off that astounding memory of yours," Doug quipped at him. Tom glared at him for his trouble.

The bell rang signaling that it was time for their first class. As they started down the hall, Tom wedged himself between Katie and Doug, draping his arm protectively over her shoulders. Doug glowered at him and Katie grimaced in confusion.

"Over protective brother," Tom gave in explanation. Katie only shrugged in dismissal as they split off for class.

Two of them would always be together. Katie shared a class with one or the other the entire day. They couldn't all take the same classes at the same time, it would look too suspicious. The only class all three were in was Walker's class and lunch period. It meant that they could keep an eye on Katie in case something happened, with either Raines and Randall or this case, and that there would always be a second witness in case they found out information on Walker.

Classes proved to be incredibly boring. They always sat at the back of the class and kept to themselves unless called on by the teacher. Even when they were, they acted nervous and shy, answering incorrectly as often as not. Doug answered everything wrong; if you didn't know him you really would have believed he was a meat head. The ruse worked. No one tried to befriend them and they were quickly relegated to the fringes of the student social structure.

Walker's class was just after lunch and all of them were bored out of their minds. They all sat crammed into desks in the back corner of the class and pretended to be more concerned with being invisible than doing their work or paying attention to Walker. Doug was amusing himself by playing paper football with himself. Katie kept her head down and pretended to be reading her textbox, playing up her shy persona. Tom drew, scribbling little stick figures playing basketball with thought balloons of a cheering crowd as the figure that looked most like him made the winning dunk. That was deliberate, along with the folders he carried emblazoned with pictures of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. If Walker saw them, it might prompt him to suggest the community center sooner rather than later.

"So what are the three branches of US government?" Walker asked the class, waiting for someone to offer an answer. No one did. Walker's eyes scanned the class looking for a likely student to call on. They landed on Katie.

"Katie Hayes, your new let's see if you know the answer," he said smiling at her kindly. The smile belied the depraved way his eyes roved over her when she looked up bashfully. Well, there was the first indicator they had the right person, he was sizing her up for her assets.

"Um, legislative, justice and executive?" she answered hesitant, she knew the answer but she had to be failing this class. Tom and Doug watched surreptitiously. Walker shook his head and looked for someone else to ask.

"Tom Hayes, what do you think the three branches of government are?" he asked.

"L-legislative, justice and a-administrative?" Tom stuttered as if he were nervous. Walker sighed and shook his head again.

"Mr. Stevens, how about you? Same question."

Doug acted startled and let his paper triangle angle off the desk across the room with the last flick.

"Who me? What was the question?"

The entire class laughed at him including Walker.

"The three branches of US Government at Legislative, Judicial and Executive," Walker supplied. The bell rang for the next class and students rushed for the door with Walker calling over them.

"Remember there is a test on this tomorrow!"

There were groans of irritation from those trying to file out the door before the teacher could assign homework. Tom, Doug and Katie lagged on purpose hoping he might stop them. They weren't disappointed.

"You two stay for a moment please. You can go on Doug," he said. Tom and Katie gave the teacher an apprehensive look as Doug left the room. They knew he wouldn't go far.

"You two are brother and sister right?" he asked eyeing Tom appraisingly. Tom shifted uncomfortably, turning his folders so that Walker would be sure to see them. The discomfort was real, Walker's shaggy head of dishwater blonde hair and unkempt beard tilted back and forth as if he were contemplating propositioning him.

"Yes sir, twins actually," he answered meekly and avoided meeting Walker's eye. Walker nodded approvingly. Tom's skin crawled.

"I have been looking over your transcripts and I see both of you failed civics last year at your old school."

Tom and Katie feigned embarrassment.

"Yes, sir," Katie answered quietly.

"I see," Walker said pausing for effect. "You look like you were in an accident. How did you get those bruises?" he asked smiling encouragingly. Katie fought the urge to gag, Walker's eyes never stopped moving, measuring them. It was exactly like being up there on that auction block in Rio, waiting for someone to make the first bid. Knowing what would come when the final bid was called. She repressed the flood of memories it provoked.

"I walked into a door sir," she choked. Tom edged over and pulled her close, sheltering her as an overprotective brother would but he saw the flash of unease in her, the way her eyes went wide before she answered.

"Uh huh," Walker said looking skeptical. "Well I'd be happy to offer you two the room after school to study anytime. I'll even tutor you myself if you like. I want all my students to succeed and I'll do everything I can to help," Walker said with the smile again. Katie cut Tom a sharp glance, her head still bowed so Walker wouldn't see.

"Thank you sir. We really appreciate it," Tom said nudging himself and Katie toward the door a little.

"Basketball fan huh?" Walker asked noticing the folders Tom carried. Tom acted as if he had forgotten he was even carrying them, fumbling his books. The paper he'd been drawing on earlier fell out – accidently on purpose. Walker leaned over and picked it up, looking it over.

"You play?" he asked handing it back.

"Uh, no. I'd like to but I'm no good," Tom said playing along.

"Well, maybe you should join a team. Give it another go. You might be better than you think.," Walker encouraged with a white toothed smile. Tom stuffed the drawing back in among his books, casting his eyes down.

"Yes sir," he muttered. The bell for the next period rang.

"You better get to your next class," the man said scrawling a hall pass for both of them. Katie took the offered bits of paper and they shuffled out the door with nervous nods of thanks. Doug grabbed them as soon as they were in the clear.

"Hey," he said to get their attention from behind a stack of lockers, reaching out and touching Katie's arm since she was nearest in case they didn't hear. Katie nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Whoa sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. You okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she assured him. But she looked shaken and neither Tom nor Doug really believed her.

"You sure?" Tom asked.

"Yes!" she insisted forcefully. "Can we just talk about something else please? Like Mr. Walker?"

"I was listening, sounded like he was being really nice," Doug said, letting the subject drop. Psychoanalysis of Katie's mental state in the hallway wasn't going to get them anywhere at the moment.

"I told you he would be," Katie said.

"That guy is creepy," Tom added.

"Yeah but being creepy doesn't make him a criminal," Doug countered.

"He was too nice," Katie argued.

"Maybe he's got a deadline to meet," Tom reasoned.

"Doesn't matter. Walker is cautious. He wouldn't risk getting caught just to deliver a kid a day or two sooner," Katie said.

"Maybe he's just moving faster than you thought he would," Doug said. Katie shook her head.

"That's just it. He's moving _too_ fast."


	13. Chapter 11: Waiting Game

**Chapter 11: Waiting Game**

It was dark, he wouldn't have been able to see where he was going if he hadn't been carrying a flash light. The officers of 21 Jump Street had long since closed up shop for the night. A look at his watch told him it was two a.m.; it would be twenty minutes before the next police car made a drive by. His hands felt stiff despite the gloves he was wearing against the bitter cold as he fumbled with the breaker panel. He had to be careful, be quick. He didn't want to be seen. The panel gave. He threw the lever inside, breaking the circuit and cutting power to the building. Sneaking along the wall, he picked the lock and slipped through the door of the chapel like a ghost. The security alarm lay quiet without the power to sound the alarm.

Raines set down the small black case he carried and appraised the situation. Katie had alluded that she might have evidence against him and Randall. They couldn't let her expose them and they couldn't get rid of her until they had whatever it was she possessed. It was bad enough she'd probably told her cousin about her suspicions. This would have to be handled very carefully. He'd already let his fear of Randall's wrath make him slip. Randall had already let his fear that Kat might have something on them make him do the same. Too many risks, they had to be dealt with.

If they were clever about it, they could get the evidence and Katie at the same time. The first part of their plan was already in action, this was part two. With no evidence and no one to give testimony it wouldn't matter what she had told Tom Hanson. It would all be circumstantial evidence and they would walk away.

The next order of business was to discover what evidence she thought she had. Raines looked over the desks searching for the nameplates of the cops working with her. He slipped a wiretap into the handset of each of their phones. He eased his way beneath their desks and placed listening devices there as well. Creeping through the building he ducked into the captain's office and did the same. One final stop, a bug anchored to the underside of the table they used for meetings and he was done.

Raines slinked out of the chapel, locked the door behind him and turned the power back on. He looked at his watch, five minutes to spare. He paused a moment to savor his handy work. The building the new agent had set up surveillance in had already been tapped. That had been easy, they had known where he would set up before he even got here and planned accordingly. They had deliberately asked for Martin Parker's plan of action ahead of time to facilitate their plan. Raines would have liked to get into Tom Hanson's apartment too but the only time he could was during the day while he and Katie were undercover at East Ridge High School. Someone might see him and mention it to them. He couldn't risk that. This would have to be enough.

He smiled smugly to himself. It would be enough. Now, all he had to do was wait.

#**#

Three days later Tom, Katie and Doug were no closer to proving if Andrew Walker was the tip off man than they had been. Despite the fact that Fuller had gotten in and out of his house as a phone repairman without a hitch, tapping his phone and leaving a listening device and a pin camera to record any conversations Walker might have at his home. He was still being perversely overfriendly and every second spent in his class was trying but he'd given them nothing else they needed so far. Granted they had only spent two days in Walker's class, with the weekend giving them a two-day gap with no viable reason to try and coax information from him but it still rankled them.

Someone had indeed called the police about Katie's bruises the second day of school. Fuller spent the better part of Saturday finagling a believable alibi for the whole thing, informing child services that the teen who'd been reported as beaten and abused was in fact an FBI agent under cover. To her credit, the social worker who took the report refused to believe him until he'd had Katie come down to social services herself to prove it. Satisfied that some poor seventeen year old was not being beaten by her foster parents the social worker had agreed to cooperate fully and tie up the paper work in red tape until they completed the case so their cover would stay intact.

Parker had been diligently recording every word Walker said, but aside from a phone call to his mother and nightly Chinese takeout orders he'd done nothing. He didn't go anywhere he shouldn't, he didn't say anything he shouldn't. Twice Parker had pleaded with Katie to let him go into the field. Both times she had told him no. He just could not understand the danger it posed to his life if he were to be caught and unable to defend himself or that it would blow the case. He followed orders, he complained but he followed them.

Judy and Ioki had continued to tail him. However, nothing about him ever seemed suspicious. He went from his hotel room to work and nowhere else he didn't have to go for food or supplies. Bored with following him, Judy and Ioki had asked it they could stake out Walker instead. Katie had refused because if he was the tip off man, he would have been coached what to pay attention to. That meant he would be bound to notice them showing up in more than one place over a short period. Fuller had agreed with her.

Because they were of no use to track Walker and Martin Parker seemed to be exactly what he said he was, (right down to the psychological profile Katie did on him) and no one could prove otherwise, Katie cut them loose. Both were needed on a rape case at West Side High School and so neither they nor Katie felt slighted by it.

Tom, Katie, Doug and Fuller spent what time they weren't working on this case, trying to piece together something on Raines and Randall from her file. Katie knew now that Tom had hidden the original but refused to say where. She understood it and didn't pressure him to tell her. What she didn't know, she couldn't tell, if it came down to it. Their late night cram sessions at the chapel, trying to dig something out of the file, had proved as fruitless as Katie's initial ones.

Their next break came Monday morning. Everyone had the pleasure of trudging through sludge to get to school, the icy rain had finally turned to snow. They all looked cranky, especially Tom and Katie. Neither had slept well. Katie's nightmares persisted and every time she woke up screaming it woke Tom too. She always brushed him off, telling him she was fine but he knew she wasn't. She no longer rebuffed him and refused to talk about the nightmares but he knew going under as a potential trafficking victim again had awakened everything she had tried to bury. There was little he could do but be there for her.

For Katie the combination of the nightmares, waiting for Walker to give them something else to go on, and waiting for Raines or Randall to make their next move was making her more than a little nervous. She almost wished Raines and Randall would get it over with. The paranoid wait for what she knew would come grated on her, making her wonder if every shadow might hide them. She beat the anxiety down with a vengeance refusing to allow it to compromise her work on this case, but the repression that allowed her to function everyday only fueled her nightmares.

There were still six kids out there somewhere only she and the Jump Street team had a chance of finding. The last had gone missing five days before she and Raines had arrived. The others had disappeared approximately two weeks apart. Raines had already cost them time and time was against them. As it stood, they had very little chance of ever recovering the kids already missing. Hope of finding them alive or at all was bleak. Even in domestic cases, missing or abducted people had a forty-eight hour window to be found safely. Anything outside of that and the chances of finding them alive dropped substantially. In a trafficking case, if you didn't find them before they were sent down the pipe line out of the country, you most likely never would.

What compounded the problem was that local law enforcement agencies had an unofficial rule of waiting twenty-four hours after the report had been filed before starting a search for a missing adult, children got immediate consideration but most reports didn't even come in less than three hours after the disappearance. Then you had to coordinate a search party and once that was done, more time had been eaten out of that tiny window of safety. In a domestic case, every minute counted, in a trafficking case every second did.

All of this ran through Katie's head as she listened to Walker drone on about the Fifth Amendment.

"And so this is why no person can be compelled to incriminate themselves on the stand in a court of law. This is also where the phrase 'You have the right to remain silent' in Miranda Rights read by police officers comes from," Walker lectured.

A look around the room proved that she wasn't the only person bored to tears by the speech. Doug had his feet propped on his desk, his head tilted back, mouth open and dead to the world. Or at least that's what it looked like to everyone else. Katie had seen him open one eye periodically, listening covertly while he pretended to be napping.

Tom was drawing again, doodling basketballs and basketball hoops in the margins of his notes. Katie had her own set of notes, feigning quiet attention but never asking questions. Raising her hand and asking questions would have been too forward, too eager. She kept her head bowed so her loose hair hid her face. It worked well to emulate shyness and a lack of confidence in social situations, people automatically assumed you wanted to be left alone or were afraid to talk if you hide your face.

It might have worked a little too well. From somewhere across the room a pencil careened, whacking her in the back of the head. It took all of her self-control not to turn around and locate the perpetrator so she could throw it back at them. She had to remind herself a cowed teen with no self-confidence wouldn't defend herself. She didn't have to, it let Tom play his part of over protective brother and he took it, his desk scraping across the floor as he jumped to his feet defensively.

"Leave her alone!" he snapped. There was an answering scrape as the pencil thrower got to his feet. Everyone held their breath, hoping a fight would start between the two.

"Make me," he snapped. It was Ramirez, a Latino boy, who styled himself the local tough guy and all around bully. It was a bluff, his suave bad guy attire and his hard as nails attitude didn't cover the fact that he was bullied by the real troublemakers in school as badly as he bullied those weaker than him. It was the same old story, there was always a bigger fish.

"Fight. Fight. Fight," several of the other students breathed hoping to egg them on.

Tom paused, acting as if the boy's bad guy act frightened him, making him rethink his rash outburst. Doug cracked an eyelid to see what was going on but kept feigning sleep, playing to his persona as the resident dunce. Walker stepped in.

"That's enough, both of you sit down. Ramirez, that's detention for you tomorrow. Tom I want to see you after class," he said, bringing the altercation to a standstill.

The bell rang. Doug flailed limbs as if the bell had startled him awake, rubbing his eyes groggily. The other kids aw'ed in disappointment that they wouldn't get to see Tom and Ramirez scuffle, reluctantly shuffling out of the door. Ramirez gave Tom and Walker a dirty look, stalking out of the room in anger at what Katie was sure he thought was an unjust punishment. Katie swallowed a mental snicker. Detention would have been the least of his worries if they hadn't been undercover. Had they been able to act like themselves he probably would have found himself hung on the boy's locker room coat hooks, devoid of his pants with the word 'Loser' scrawled across his forehead in pink lipstick. That would have taught him not to bully others.

Walker waited until the last of the students had left before turning his attention to Tom. Katie and Doug lagged so they could try and listen in. Walker waved them over.

"You can stay Katherine," he said sitting down at his desk. Katie looped her arm through Doug's in faked apprehension, hoping that Walker wouldn't insist on dismissing him for fear of alienating Tom and Katie with her holding on to him. Doug caught on and wrapped his arm around her waist, smiling dumbly. It worked. Walker's gaze shifted to their joined arms and traveled up drawing his own conclusions.

"I see," he said his eyes roving over them again. Tom _saw_ just as well as Walker did. He shot his partner a scathing look. Doug's dumb grin got wider and he acted oblivious.

"You can stay Doug," Walker said pulling papers from a stack on the desk. Both had red F's on them.

"You and Katherine both failed Friday's test. Now I know you both just transferred but given your history with this class at your old school I'm concerned."

They already knew they had failed it. All three of them had. It had been deliberate and Walker was playing right into it.

"How'd I do?" Doug asked absently. Walker cut him a bothered look.

"You failed too."

Doug looked like a kicked puppy for a moment and then his attention seemed to wander. The grade seemingly forgotten in favor of examining the stapler on Walker's desk.

Walker looked Tom and Katie over again with that appraising eye, his gaze lingering on them each in turn. Katie fought not to squirm in discomfort; he looked like he was undressing them with his eyes. Tom saw it too, shoving his hands in his pants pockets and lowering his gaze to cover the scowl of disgust it provoked.

"I'd like you to stay after school today and study. I'll leave a study guide for this chapter for you both. I want you to answer all the questions on it and leave it on my desk to be graded. I would instruct you myself but I have prior arrangements I can't break," Walker continued.

"Yes sir," Tom muttered head still down. He cast Katie and Doug a suspicious glance under the fall of his hair. Prior arrangements? A meeting with the procurer maybe?

"Can Doug come too?" Katie asked in a little voice. She had Walker painted in a corner. If he refused it would make him look callus and suspicious. Why coddle only Tom and Katie if all three had failed the test? Walker knew it too, his jaw flexed in agitation.

"Alright, the more the merrier. I think I can round up another study guide," he said. Katie gave him a grateful smile, before snapping back into her usual persona of reserved shyness. Walker smiled back with white teeth that were slightly crooked and she didn't have to feign the way her eyes slid away to avoid his gaze.

"Tom, I know you like basketball. I'd like to suggest something. I volunteer at the local community center on Friday afternoons and weekends. Why don't you come down and join the team?" Walker said, turning his nauseating smile on him.

"Why sir? I told you, I'm no good," Tom answered him dismally.

"Have you ever tried?" Walker asked.

"No sir," Tom said playing up his supposed lack of confidence.

"That's why I think it's a good idea. You never know until you try. It will teach you discipline and patience. Working with a team will build your confidence," Walker prodded. Tom pretended to consider it nervously.

"Alright sir."

"Good. Bring Katie along too. I'm sure we have something she'd enjoy. Do you swim Katie?" Walker said brightly. Katie looked anxious that his attention had returned to her. Doug kept on pretending to ignore the conversation.

"Uh, yeah I guess. I know how to sir," she murmured.

"We teach swim classes at the community center. The pool is heated so the season doesn't matter. We're always glad to have volunteers to help teach the smaller kids. I think that it might boost your confidence as well once you see that you can do something and succeed at it. What do you say?" Walker encouraged.

Katie swallowed. To Walker it probably looked like she was apprehensive about agreeing, scared to put herself out there and fail. It was really because Walker was walking right into their hands with very little effort. He'd just given them an opportunity to bug his class room and moved them along to the community center offer she'd known was coming in one day. They had only spent a grand total of three days in his class. Walker was not a trusting individual; he couldn't be and have been tipping off a procurer successfully this long without being caught. It was too easy.

"Okay. If Tommy goes I will too," she acquiesced.

Walker looked delighted.

"Great. Then how about this Saturday? Say two o'clock?"

Tom and Katie nodded quietly as Walker filled in three hall passes and handed them out.

As soon as they had gotten out the door and far enough down the hall they wouldn't be noticed they slipped into an alcove been stacks of lockers.

"Well, there's our chance to bug the classroom," Tom said.

"That was too easy," Katie said.

"Why? He just sounds like a little creepy but nice teacher," Doug said.

"Have you been watching the same guy we have?" Tom asked incredulous.

"We've been in his class three days and he's already offered us the classroom after school to study in, basically corralled us into doing it with no way out without seeming out of character and offered us after school, confidence building activities at the community center. That is not how he operates. This should have taken longer," Katie argued.

"Maybe your profile is wrong. Maybe he's just a teacher trying to help disadvantaged kids and we're acting like disadvantaged kids," Doug contended.

"Didn't you notice he didn't invite you to the study session until Katie asked for you to be there or to the community center? He couldn't refuse to include you it would have looked funny" Tom put in.

"Katie even said the profiles aren't always right," Doug said.

"I know you want to believe the best of everybody Doug but I'm not wrong," Katie insisted not even noticing that Doug had referred to her as Katie rather than his normal professional variant of Kat. She didn't notice because they had grown closer, even becoming friends over the last week. It seemed natural for him to use it.

"How do you know?" Doug asked. Katie gave Tom a look, asking for silent permission to prove why she wasn't. Tom knew how what she did worked. He'd been subjected to her amateur analysis throughout her college years. Tom nodded.

"I'll give you an example. You for instance, your knuckles are calloused, but it's too heavy for it to come from just regular work outs. I'm going to say you have a tendency to punch a heavy bag to help you work through emotional issues, probably to music to take your mind off it. I'm going to guess that music is something most wouldn't expect. Most likely classical or opera because you aren't nearly as shallow as you pretend to be," Katie hazarded. Doug's eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline, his eyes wide in disbelief. Tom had to bite his lip to keep from laughing at him.

"People perceive you as shallow because you constantly crack jokes but it's your way of handling conflict, of deflecting it. That's how you deal. You're apartment is probably a disaster not because you're lazy but because appearances aren't what matters to you. You could care less what others think. Should I go on?" Katie said. Doug shook his head.

"No, no I get it. Walker's our guy," he said holding up his hands in defeat and looking a little weirded out by how accurate her on the spot analysis had been.

"But why's it too easy?" Doug added.

"Maybe he has a deadline to meet," Tom suggested.

"Maybe. Maybe he's afraid he'll lose a good thing with twins he can sell off if he doesn't act fast. Maybe not. I don't know," Katie admitted with a shake of her head.

"You're the profiler you tell us," Doug countered with a little bit of smugness. Katie gave him a mildly irritated look in rebuke.

"I'm a criminal psychologist not a mind reader," she quipped, as they moved down the hall to their next class before someone noticed them.

"_That_ was creepy," Doug stated under his breath to Tom.

"I heard that," Katie said. Tom just laughed at them both.

#**#

The three of them were prompt about showing up for their study session after school. Walker was very brief. He explained the study guide to them in short order, excused himself politely and left. They sat down idly writing in random answers on their papers and waited for Walker to get some distance behind them. Doug edged to the door peering out of the tiny window first before opening it and checking both directions. Not a soul in sight.

"He's gone," Doug said, shutting the door. Katie grabbed her purse and rummaged inside producing three tiny cellophane wrapped packages. She passed one to Tom and Doug. They had already planned out the best places to put the listening devices and a pin camera over the weekend once they knew the layout of the class room.

Tom took the first watch, back to the door so he couldn't be seen from outside and kept a look out for anyone coming down the hall. Doug and Katie set to work. Doug placed a bug under the windowsill about half way down the length of the classroom. It was easy to apply, peel and stick with what amounted to the gum-like substance marketed for putting up posters without damaging walls.

Katie worked on wedging the pin camera behind a large corkboard on the wall near the door, pointing it at the desk. Her task wasn't so easy. She had to slid the tiny wires that ran to the watch battery running the camera behind the corkboard, then get the camera into position and make sure it wouldn't be noticed. Doug was done long before she was and switched places with Tom.

With Doug watching the door, Tom crawled under Walker's desk to place a bug on the underside. It was a tight fit, the desk had a kickboard that covered the front side hiding the user's feet and it was barely large enough to squeeze into. Tom pulled the backing off the gum and cursed.

"What's wrong?" Katie called still working on getting the camera in place. She almost had it. Just a bit further back and it wouldn't be visible unless you knew it was there.

"The paper stuck to the sticky stuff," Tom said, his voice muffled by the wood enclosing him. There was a hard thud as he tried to shift and hit his head on the underside of the desk.

"Ow!"

"He's coming back !" Doug hissed. Katie got the camera in place just as he said it and turned panic-stricken. Tom peered through the crack between the desktop and the kickboard and doubled his efforts.

"Hurry up Tommy!" Katie urged.

"I am!" Tom said, rapidly picking the bits of paper off the adhesive.

Katie stood on tiptoe peaking over Doug's shoulder. Walker was almost there.

"Need a distraction," she said looking around her for something to distract him with.

"Yeah but what?" Doug said anxiously. What to do? Run out into the hall way and try to make up some story to stall him? No, that would be too obvious, it might make Walker suspicious. Katie shrilled trying to think. Then she had it. Something that wouldn't be out of place, Walker had already draw his own conclusions earlier when she'd asked if Doug could be here for the study session.

"Tommy don't move," she said, then grabbed Doug pulling him around so she was against the wall beside the door and kissed him.

Tom looked through the crack to see what the distraction was and was so surprised he unconsciously tried to stand up and protest. He got another thunk on the head for his trouble. Gripping his abused scalp all he could do was stay quiet and watch as Katie kissed Doug like they were at lover's point. Doug hesitated only a moment in shock then reciprocated and he looked like he was enjoying it, hand slipping behind her neck. Tom seethed. The door opened.

"Ahm," Walker said. Katie broke off the kiss and pretended to have been caught off guard by his entrance. Doug stood there with a dazzled expression. That had come as a complete surprise. He wouldn't mind a surprise like that again.

"What's going on here? Where's your brother?" Walker asked reprovingly. Katie acted like she was too embarrassed at having been caught to speak. Doug, dazed by the impromptu kiss took a moment to realize she was waiting on him to take the lead.

"Oh, he went to the bathroom."

He didn't have to act absent minded, he was still dumb struck by Katie's idea of a distraction.

"Uh huh," Walker said pausing. "Does he know about – this?"

"No sir," Katie whispered looking down at the floor, then, "Please don't tell him." Walker sighed.

"I take it he wouldn't be very happy about it?"

Katie shook her head and Doug deigned to look abashed.

"You realize public displays of affection are prohibited on school grounds?" Walker asked.

"Yes sir," they both answered softly.

"I could give you both detention for this," Walker pointed out mildly. Katie fell in with it and panicked.

"No, please don't. My foster parents will kill me!" she pleaded, the still barely visible bruises on her face and neck helping back up the idea. Walker seemed to be considering what to do.

"Alright. I won't give you detention and I won't tell your brother," he agreed.

"Oh, thank you Mr. Walker!"

"On one condition," he amended. Katie looked nervously expectant.

"Make sure you and your brother are at the community center Saturday."

"Yes sir!" Katie babbled in pretended relief and gratitude.

"Let me just get my keys. I forgot them," Walker said moving for the desk. Tom froze, he didn't even breath. Katie and Doug waited with bated breath as Walker opened the desk drawer and got his keys. He didn't see Tom curled up in a ball under his desk, hiding.

Walker opened the door to leave and turned back to Doug and Katie for a moment.

"I'll just let you two…study," he said and smiled. This time what was going through his mind was written all over his face as his eyes flitted over Katie. Then he was gone again, the door shutting behind him. No one moved, they waited wondering if he might come back both Doug and Katie looking out the window to see where he went. Walker headed straight for the main entrance; he didn't bother to check if Tom really was in the bathroom. Doug and Katie sagged with sighs of relief.

"That was close," Katie said.

"Yeah," Doug agreed. There was a loud smack as Tom slapped the listening device to the underside of the desk and clambered out. He stalked across the room and shoved Doug into the wall, furious.

"What are you doing?" Tom railed. Doug shoved back. Tom cocked his arm about to slug his partner and best friend.

"She kissed me!" Doug cried.

"You didn't have to kiss her back!"

"With Walker right here? What was I supposed to do?"

"You liked it!" Tom accused. Doug couldn't think of anything to say. Tom had him there. He had enjoyed it. What guy wouldn't? If it hadn't been his cousin Tom would have been cheering him on and he knew it.

Doug's lack of a response confirmed the accusation in Tom's mind. He paced a step or two in either direction that warning smile playing on his lips.

"Why don't you kiss this!"

Tom swung. There was a resounding smack as Tom's fist connected with Doug's jaw. Doug stumbled back and came up ready to hit back. Katie stepped between them.

"What's wrong with you?" Katie spat confused by the sudden and seemingly uncalled for outburst.

"You kissed him!" Tom yelled at her, dropping his arm.

"We had to have a distraction!" Katie said.

"You could have picked something else!" Tom insisted his arms waving around in anger. He wasn't about to admit to either of them that he'd used the same distraction on his first case. Besides, he hadn't enjoyed it. He'd been too nervous he'd be found out.

"It's not like we had a lot of time to decide Hanson," Doug shot rubbing his jaw. It made no difference to Tom. He was too irate about what he couldn't stop despite his best efforts.

"I don't care. I told you to stay away from my cousin. No kissing her, no asking her out, no dating her, nothing," Tom bit turning back on Doug, an accusing finger pointed in his face.

"Hanson!" Doug protested. Katie looked between them her face drawn up into an expression of baffled disbelief.

"Wait a minute, you told him to stay away from me?" she asked in affront. Tom didn't seem fazed by her obvious irritation.

"Yes," he said pointedly.

"Don't you think I should be the one deciding who can and cannot ask me out?" Katie said hotly. This was not the first time Tom had made it his business to decide who was and was not qualified to date his cousin. Summer romances had been nearly impossible; he never thought anyone measured up. It only served to irritate her further that when she had managed to snag a guy willing to tolerate Tom's intrusions that Tom had turned out to be right.

"Somebody is going to hear you!" Doug said plaintively, trying to get them to stop arguing. They both regarded him with a warning look. Doug knew that look, if he stuck his nose in now they'd both turn on him. He stayed out of it.

"He's a… a…skirt chaser," Tom said fumbling for a description.

"I am not!" Doug spat outraged, despite his fear they'd pounce on him.

"Yes you are!" Tom shot back.

"Maybe I like skirt chasers!" Katie snapped unable to tolerate it anymore. Being protective over her with Raines and Randall was one thing. This was just taking it too far.

Doug gaped, snapping his mouth shut and stamping on the self satisfied smirk that begged to pull at his lips and the laundry list of ah ha's and I told you so's his brain came up with him to hurl at Tom.

"Oh no. No absolutely not," Tom said.

"I'm not fifteen anymore Tommy!" Katie railed.

"Will you two shut up!" Doug interjected. If they kept this up someone was going to come investigate, if they hadn't been heard already. Tom and Katie ignored him.

"No you're not but look what happened then. Bobby Williams broke your heart and I had to threaten to kill him," Tom blasted.

"HEY! Anybody notice that Walker didn't give us detention when he should have and he didn't bother to go see if Tom was in the bathroom? That weird to anybody else?" Doug barked in a last ditch attempt to get them off the argument. That did it. They stopped mid-comeback and looked at him.

"He seemed a little too pleased about the whole kiss too," Katie said diverted from her anger at Tom by Doug's observation.

"So did Doug," Tom bit getting in one final jab. Doug and Katie shot him a look.

"Walker just doesn't want to lose our trust by giving you guys detention. He might lose his cash cows if he did," Tom said his voice leveling off to normal.

"Yeah but he made me promise to show up at the community center with you on Saturday. He's moving things up, going faster. I'll bet money he's going to make contact with the procurer for pick up. Try and snatch us then," Katie said.

"Then we gotta tell Fuller," Doug put in.

"Agreed," Katie said.

"Can we finish those study guides now so we don't blow our cover?" Doug asked carefully, exasperated by the tirade that had just happened. That temper must run in the Hanson family. God help who ever tried to date their kids one day. Both of them half shrugged, half nodded, in assent.

They took their seats again and resumed writing down haphazard answers on their papers in silence. Tom kept cutting Doug angry glances. Doug pretended he didn't see them. Katie ignored them both.

The longer Tom sat there filling in thoughtless answers the more his fury about his failed attempts to thwart Doug built again.

"I can't believe you kissed him!" Tom whispered through clenched teeth. Katie sighed in annoyance.

"Maybe I'd like to do more than kiss him," Katie quipped, fully aware that she was provoking him. Doug turned red at the implication. Tom sat up and started to launch into another argument.

"Okay behave children." Doug cut them off. It garnered him a glare from both of them but they relented. Tom had to have the last word though.

"I forbid you to date him," he growled.

Katie just snorted petulantly. Doug rolled his eyes giving up. He was more than a little pleased (okay he was jubilant) that Katie would even suggest what she had but this was ludicrous; _he_ was the one trying to act like the adult!

"Geez."


	14. Chapter 12: House Of Cards

**Chapter 12: House Of Cards**

"Got it."

Randall turned from his post, staring out the window of the cabin to the softly falling snow beyond. Raines hung up the phone and beamed at his superior. Randall didn't smile back, his face remained expressionless.

"Explain?" he asked mildly.

"We've got them talking about a file, trying to find a connection between us and it. That has to be what she thinks she has," Raines answered his voice less enthusiastic under Randall's stern gaze.

"Everything else is in order? There will be no obstacles?"

"No sir, he's cooperating fully."

"Is there any chance they know?" Randall asked. Raines shook his head certain this time he was right.

"No."

Randall smiled darkly, his eyes glittered in the light from the fireplace.

"Good."

#**#

Tom, Doug and Katie reported to Jump Street as soon as they had turned in their study guides at school. Since they had missed the bus by staying after school, they had to walk six blocks in the increasing snow to find a payphone and call for a taxi so their covers stayed intact. None of them was happy. None them argued either, they didn't even speak, but they all kept exchanging dirty looks.

They came in the door shaking off snow settled on them from the walk from the taxi to the door. At this rate, there would be a foot of it on the ground by morning. Luckily, their cars were in the parking lot, so leaving the chapel would be much less hassle.

"I got something!" Parker greeted them enthusiastically as soon as he saw them. He and Fuller were waiting for them. Fuller looked disgruntled.

"So do we," Tom said.

"Where have you been? You were supposed to report as soon as school let out."

"We couldn't. Had to stay after school but we think we got Walker," Doug said.

"What have you got Parker?" Katie asked shaking the last of the snow off her coat and sitting down at the table. Parker was giddy with excitement as he pulled out a tape recorder. The others sat down to listen along, pads and pencils ready to take notes if they needed to. Tom, Katie and Doug continued to shoot each other cross glances. Fuller noticed.

"Something wrong?" he asked. The three of them glared at each other again.

"No," they said collectively. Fuller looked skeptical.

"Uh huh, so you three are just looking daggers at each other for fun?"

"It's nothing," Tom said with an icy look at Doug.

"Doesn't seem like nothing to me," Fuller observed.

"Tommy just has issues minding his own business," Katie said through gritted teeth. It incensed Tom all over again, he pointed his pencil at her over the table in vexation.

"It is my business!"

"No it's not!"

"Hanson let it go!" Doug pleaded.

"Okay what the hell is going on?" Fuller said interceding.

"Nothing!" they all snapped in the heat of the renewed argument. Fuller glared, they shrank down into their seats. Parker said nothing, he sat there wide eyed and kept his lips sealed.

"I don't know what the problem is with you all but bury it. Is that understood?" he said sternly. Tom, Katie and Doug gave each other one last boiling glance and settled down.

"Go on Parker," Fuller encouraged, shaking his head at the three supposed professionals staring each other down across the table. He didn't know if he was working with law enforcement officers or bickering five year olds. Parker hesitantly set the tape recorder on the table.

"I got this about two hours ago. Just after school let out," he said and pushed play.

"Hello?"

The first voice was unknown and echoed. As if someone were speaking through moving fan blades.

"It's set, meet me Saturday."

That voice was Walker's.

"What time?" said the second voice.

"Three o'clock," Walker said.

"You understand the conditions of our agreement?" the second voice said.

"Yes," Walker said.

"Then I'll be there," the second voice answered.

The recording ended.

"That's where he went. It wasn't a meeting with the procurer it was a phone call," Tom said, his temper cooled for the moment.

"We got him dead bang," Doug said.

"The other voice sounded funny," Katie said.

"They're using a tone box," Doug said. Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"You know, like in Barbarella?" he said. Dead stares from all of them.

"How do you know there's one in Barbarella?" Tom asked then retracted it.

"Don't answer that."

"A tone box?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, it's a special phone. It distorts your voice." Doug explained.

"So who ever the procurer is he doesn't want Walker to know his voice," Fuller said.

"Apparently not. Probably wants to keep his identity as secret as he can," Parker said.

"Alright, what have you guys got?" Fuller asked.

The three of them proceeded to tell Fuller and Parker what had transpired at school, leaving out the part where they had been squabbling and the nature of their distraction of course.

"I'll have a team waiting when you go in at the community center. You two will have to wear a wire. As soon as the exchange is made we'll grab them," Fuller said. Tom and Katie nodded.

"Let me go in! Then you guys won't have to wear a wire. I'll be close enough to catch it all on tape," Parker pleaded.

"No Parker. We've been through this, it's too dangerous," Katie said.

"But.." Parker protested.

"No and that's the end of it," Katie said firmly. Parker crossed his arms in disappointment.

"Then I guess you kids better get to your homework. Now it's a waiting game," Fuller said dismissing them.

"Oh great a whole week of diagramming sentences," Doug grumbled.

"Could be worse. Could be algebra," Katie said. All of them wrinkled their noses in distaste.

"Hey, we have more time to work on the file now," Tom said as they got up to leave.

"True. Have you found anything yet Captain?" Katie asked.

"Not yet," Fuller said shaking his head. Katie sighed in dejection. The longer they had to keep looking, the longer Raines and Randall had to keep them from finding it at all.

"We'll find it Kat. Don't worry," Fuller said, patting her on the shoulder.

"By the way, what did you distract Walker with? You never said," he asked. Tom, Doug and Katie looked at each other then at Fuller, scowled, and walked out. Leaving Fuller with a perplexed expression and no answer.

#**#

"Doug wait up. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Katie said trotting to keep up with his much longer stride. They had all split off to go home as soon as they got to the parking lot. Tom had gone on ahead too perturbed to wait. Katie would be there shortly and then they could argue to their heart's content. He knew if he stuck around he might have picked up where he'd left off and decked Penhall again.

Doug stopped, shoving his hands in his pockets against the cold.

"Yeah sure," he said.

"About earlier, I didn't mean anything by what I said. I mean it's not that you aren't dateable it's just… Tommy drives me nuts sometimes," she apologized. Doug gave her a slightly let down smile, scuffing a furrow in the snow with his shoe.

"Yeah he's good at that."

Katie bit the edge of her lip.

"He's always done this," she said.

"He's just trying to protect you. He's a guy. He knows how our minds work," Doug joked, tapping his temple. Katie chuckled.

"So you're admitting you're a skirt chaser?" she teased. Doug laughed.

"No, no not exactly."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"I don't regret it you know. Kissing you," Katie said, turning visibly pink. Doug smiled again.

"I don't regret you doin' it," he admitted shyly. Katie laughed softly. They dropped into silence again. Katie didn't want to hurt his feelings. He was a great guy but this wasn't the time or place for romantic entanglements. She wasn't stable enough and getting involved with her cousin's partner could only led to trouble. What if it didn't work out? Where would they be then? Worse…what if it did?

"Just friends then?" Katie asked cautiously. Doug nodded.

"Just friends," he agreed, though he would have agreed to something more than friends in a heartbeat.

"I'm not sure I could handle dating a woman who can pick my brain like you can anyway," Doug teased.

Katie chuckled at him.

"How's your jaw?"

"Ah, it's fine. Didn't even leave a mark," Doug said.

"Don't tell Tommy," Katie said.

"What? You aren't going to tell him he can stop bouncing off walls?" Doug asked. Katie turned to go flashing him an impish smile.

"No. I think I'll let him sweat it out for a while."

Doug grinned and shook his head as she walked to her car. Katie Hanson had a perverse sense of humor. No wonder he liked her.

#**#

The snow piled higher, Tuesday and Wednesday came and went. Walker stuck to his usual routine; eying them and making Tom and Katie feel like they were on display. They played along and bore it knowing by the weekend that Walker would be behind bars, never able to subject another kid to sex slavery again.

Parker kept up surveillance but as they expected, since the exchange had already been arranged he got nothing.

Katie's nightmares continued but Tom's presence seemed to give her something to hold onto. Less and less, he caught her looking at the hollows of her arms. It seemed to be enough, at least for now, that he was there. Knowing she wasn't alone in it anymore seemed to do a lot for her state of mind. More and more she seemed a little more like herself. Her vehement protest of his equally vehement proclamation that there was no way on god's green earth she and Doug were ever going to get together had proven it.

Once he'd come down off his hotheaded high, he had realized he probably owed Doug an apology. Not that he would get it, but he probably owed him one. Katie had kissed him but Doug had still liked it. That counted in the 'hands off my cousin' department. None of them had talked about it since the night of the fight. If they had, Tom was sure somebody would have ended up hit again.

They had nothing to do but wait for Saturday and dig through her file for evidence against Raines and Randall. Tom swore he could hear the ominous ticking of a clock whispering that they were sitting on top of a bomb they couldn't see. He knew the waiting and wondering was, at least in part, contributing to Katie's nightmares. Why hadn't Raines and Randall done anything yet? Where were they? When would the axe fall? It was enough to make him feel like a cat on a hot tin roof. She had to be feeling it too. It made him wonder how much of her calm exterior was bravado.

Tom placed the three of hearts slowly and delicately onto the top of the house of cards he and Katie were building. This had been her idea, a way to get their mental juices flowing because they'd been pouring over the file since they'd gotten home from school and nothing seemed to give them a modicum of evidence to go on. She said it was a trick they had used when she was in college to both stimulate and distract the mind, allowing for intuitive leaps. It didn't seem to be working.

"You aren't really serious about dating Doug are you?" Tom whined as Katie took her turn with the house of cards and Tom flipped through the file again. That was the pattern, stick a card on the house of cards, flip through the file, repeat.

She gave him a puckish smile as she stuck a card on the towering construction.

"I dunno. I haven't decided yet," she said.

"Oh come on Katie! You are not dating him," Tom said, passing the file over and taking his turn with the cards.

"We'll see," she teased.

"He really is a dog," Tom insisted.

Katie looked up from the file, "Uh huh. I believe you." It was great fun watching Tom squirm in discomfort that she might actually be serious about Doug.

"He is! He tried to get me to go girl chasing with him on my bowling night!" Tom said, illustrating his point.

"You should have gone. You really should get out more," Katie joked turning pages. Tom gaped. Katie laughed out loud at him.

"You're okay with that?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Katie answered as they switched places again.

Tom's jaw dropped further.

"Relax Tommy. It really was just a distraction. We're just friends," Katie told him, cutting him some slack. Tom let out a relieved sigh, for a moment she'd had him scared she was honestly alright with potentially dating a guy who actively prowled for dates.

"Does Doug know that?" he asked. Katie was searching for the perfect place to put her card.

"What do you think I stayed behind for Monday night?" Katie said, sizing up a spot near the top and rejecting it.

"You could have told me," Tom said indignant, shifting through a stack of receipts for work expenses.

Katie chortled wickedly.

"That wouldn't have been nearly as much fun," she quipped.

"You're evil," Tom said back. They both laughed. Katie tried another spot for her card and sighed heavily suddenly.

"I can't do this anymore," she said dropping the card on the table.

"This was your idea," Tom pointed out not looking up from the file.

"Not this," Katie said motioning to the house of cards, "I mean with Raines, we've gone over the folder. None of you can find anything any better than I could. I know they aren't just going to sit there and let this slide but I don't know what they are going to do or when. I can't sleep, I have nightmares constantly, reliving Rio over and over again…," she said in frustration, her rant trailing off unfinished.

Tom looked up from the folder and gave her a sympathetic glance.

"We'll find something. Just hold on," he encouraged, watching his cousin's carefully controlled façade of strength bend.

"To what? Saturday this case will be through. What then? Time's running out," Katie said morosely

Tom's brows drew together quizzically, something clicking in his mind.

"Time," he said as he backed up through the receipts he'd been going through. Katie gave him a copy of his own expression befuddled by his apparent confusion. Katie came around his shoulder to see what he was looking at. Tom pulled two receipts out and flipped further into the file stopping at a call log.

"I think I got something," Tom said careful to keep his tone even, he didn't want to get his hopes up yet. The look in Katie's eyes told him she already had. Tom spread out the receipts next to the call log.

"Look, here's a receipt for two restaurants, Carnaval and Barraca de Galinha, both at one twenty four p.m. on the same day. How can you be two places at once? Neither could have been yours, you were in as a homeless kid," Tom said pointing to the time written on the receipts. It had been her mention of the word "time" that triggered his recollection of seeing the times on the receipts, he just hadn't connected the two as being the same.

Katie's heart beat faster. Had Tom really found something? Had he seen what she missed? Could they have finally gotten something on Raines and Randall? She swallowed on reigned in hope.

"Barraca de Galinha, it's a little dive restaurant down in Rocinha," Katie said.

"Down where?" Tom asked.

"Rocinha, it's the largest slum in Rio. That's where we were posted," Katie explained.

"What about the other one?" Tom asked. Katie shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't recognize the address."

Tom peered at the receipts more closely.

"Look it, at Carnaval he made a phone call to the United States. They billed it to his check."

"Maybe he called Randall to check in? We were supposed to periodically," Katie suggested.

"Well is that Randall's number?"

"I don't recognize it," Katie said. Tom shook his head.

"This place wasn't some dive somewhere. He ordered filet mignon. Why would he be in an upscale restaurant when you were supposed to be hanging around in a slum?" Tom reasoned aloud.

"And, look at this call log. He called the same number several times. That number was the last number he called before the case ended," he added. Katie licked her lips thinking.

"So what's that mean?"

"I dunno yet. You don't recognize the address for Caranaval at all?" Tom asked already getting up and moving for his coat and keys. Katie shook her head.

"I'm going to get a map. I want to know where that place is. I've got a feeling it was way too far away for him to have had a reason to be there and I think he was there because he was talking to someone he wasn't supposed to talk to. The other receipt was probably forged to cover his ass," Tom said. Katie blinked.

"It's nine at night. Where are you going to get a map?"

"There's a book store open until ten down on Meridian," Tom explained heading for the door.

"Call Fuller. Give him that phone number. He's got connections, maybe he can find out who it belongs to," Tom said halfway out the door. He paused and smiled at Katie.

"Told you we'd get 'em."

#**#

Katie called Fuller at the chapel. She got no answer. She tried his home number from the list tacked beside the phone. No answer there either. She bit her lip anxiously. She couldn't believe she had managed to over look the coinciding time and dates on those receipts for so long. It made her feel just a little stupid that she'd been obsessing over the file for six months and missed but Tom had had it a week and found what she couldn't. Of course, while it was the first bit of evidence they had it didn't actually prove anything. It might prove Raines was not where he was supposed to be but it didn't tell them why he wasn't there. However, it did lay suspicion on him. At the very least he'd have to explain why he wasn't where he was supposed to be and that alone might be enough to expose him and Randall.

Unable to reach the captain, Katie sat down with the file and stared at it trying to rack her brain for some sort of pattern, a discernable set of events that might tell her what it was he was doing there but nothing came. She just didn't have enough information to piece it together. She would have to wait until Fuller had the number and see if he could find anything.

The phone rang jarring her out of her thoughts. She tried to ignore it, focusing on the file. It rang again. She tried to push it out of her mind. It rang again and the machine picked up. Tom's recorded voice sounded out into the room.

"Hi, this is Tom. Please leave your name and number at the sound of the beep. Oh yeah, thanks for calling."

Beep.

"Agent Hanson. It's Parker."

Katie groaned in annoyance at her train of thought being interrupted but knew this wasn't a call she could ignore. He might have picked up something.

"Call me back as soon as you get this. It's important."

Katie hopped up and over the couch to get to the phone before he hung up.

"Don't hang up!" she said snatching the hand set off the hook.

"Hanson?" Parker said, assuring himself a human had picked up the line.

"Yeah, it's me," Katie said.

"Oh thank God. Walker got a call about five minutes ago. Listen," Parker said. Katie could hear the click of his tape recorder as he turned it on to play the call for her. She listened intently.

"Hello?" Walker's voice said.

"Meet me at the south side of East Ridge High School in fifteen minutes."

It was the same voice as before, distorted by the tone box.

"But I thought…" Walker said in surprise.

"Don't ask questions. Just be there," barked the electronic voice.

"Alright," Walker said hesitant.

"When we're through go to Bear Lake. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes," stuttered Walker. This had come as a surprise to him. That much was obvious. Why meet now? It made no sense to Katie either.

"Good."

She heard the click as the recorder was turned off and Parker came back on the line.

"They've moved up the meeting.," Katie said looking down at her watch. It would take at least thirty minutes at top speed to reach the school. She'd never make it in time.

"I'll never make it in time. Stay where you are I'm calling this in," Katie said about to hang up and do just that.

"Let me go. I can get close and record it. They'll never know I'm there," Parker pleaded.

"No. It's too dangerous."

"Even if you call it in they won't get here any faster than you will," Parker reasoned.

"Parker…," Katie warned.

"I'm going. We'll lose them if I don't," Parker said.

Silence.

"Parker!" Katie yelled worriedly. The line went dead. He'd hung up.

"Damn it!" Katie cursed, hitting the stop button on the answering machine and depressing the hook, dialing the chapel again. No answer. She tried Fuller's home number. No answer. She tried Doug's home number pulling it off the list by the phone. No answer. Where the hell was everybody?

Katie slammed the phone back on the hook and paced, her hands buried in her hair while she tried to decide what to do. She couldn't get in touch with Tom, no one was answering their phone and she couldn't call it in to the station. Cops would descend on the place like vultures and blow the whole case. Without the exchange of humans for money they didn't have a case. All they had was an obscure meeting that could be about anything. If she waited until Tom got back, Parker would likely be long dead.

"Shit!" she spat, making up her mind. There was only one thing she could do. Snagging a pencil off the table scattered with papers from her file she scrawled a quick note to Tom.

**Meeting moved up.**

**South side of school.**

**Parker went in.**

**Had to go after him.**

**Katie**

She clipped it under the cassette drawer of the answering machine and ran to get her gun out of her suitcase. She slung on the shoulder holster and grabbed extra clips. The picture Tom had given her slipped from the suitcase, onto the floor. She picked it up. She didn't know why but she stashed it in her pants pocket and bolted for the door grabbing her coat and keys on the way.

The door slammed behind her with such force, the breeze it caused scattered the delicate house of cards she and Tom had been building in its wake.


	15. Chapter 13: The Turn Of The Screw

**Chapter 13: The Turn Of The Screw**

Tom opened the door to his apartment and met emptiness. He looked around and didn't see Katie anywhere. The house of cards lay scattered across his coffee table and on the floor, the red backs of the cards like a pool of blood.

"Katie?" he called poking his head into the bathroom and bedroom but found no one. His heart jumped into his throat fearing the worst. He made for the phone; Katie wouldn't have just gone off without telling someone where she was going. He saw the note. Pulling it free of the cassette drawer he read it and his eyes went wide. He had no way of knowing how long she'd been gone. The trip to the bookstore for a map had taken about an hour round trip.

Tom raced for his car to go after her, pelting down the stairs to make better time. He grabbed his radio as soon as he was in the car, calling it in as he floored it.

"This is Kings Twelve. Plain clothes officer enroute to south side of East Ridge High School. Possible two seventeen in progress. Plain clothes officers on scene. Requesting back up. Proceed with caution, possible four seventeen and four forty four. Undercover operation, ten forty."

To hell with complete secrecy, if Katie or Parker wound up dead it wouldn't matter as far as he was concerned. Silent running would have to be enough.

"Ten four Kings Twelve. Officers being dispatched," came the reply.

He barley heard it as dispatch called the order over wideband. He drove like a man possessed. _Let me make it time._

On two different sides of town, Doug and Fuller heard the call come over the scanner. Fuller had just gotten out of the shower. That was why he hadn't heard the phone when Katie tried to call. Doug was just getting back into his truck, a takeout bag from Rocket Dog in his hand. He'd been out on a late night food run. Both of them raced to follow Tom and Katie.

#**#

Katie drove like a bat out of hell, slowing down only when she turned into the school parking lot. As she came to a halt, she saw two cars. One she recognized as Walker's, the other she had never seen before. The only illumination was the streetlights over the parking lot. Around the back of the building, where the meeting was to take place there would be few lights. Cautiously she got out of the car; she drew her gun, checked that the clip was full and took off the safety, cocking it as she went. She didn't dare use a flashlight to see her way. Its light might give her away, but as she moved along the west side of the building, she could see the footprints in the snow that led around to the south side well enough by moonlight.

Adrenalin pumped through her veins as she crept along, making her heart pound. She reached the end of the wall and peered around it. A single streetlamp was her only light. She could see Walker and another person she couldn't make out who it was in the relative darkness. They seemed to be talking but Parker was nowhere in sight. Katie ducked back behind the wall, her breathing loud in her ears, trying to think of what to do. The footprints led in a line. She couldn't tell how many people they represented but there was no other trail. Parker must have followed them just as she had, but since there was no offshoot, no deviation from the set of prints, he had to be nearby. The fact that she couldn't see him when the prints said he should be standing with Walker and the other man set off alarm bells in her head. Where was he?

Taking a deep breath she popped around the building and kept to the shadows, sneaking around Walker and the unknown man she still couldn't see. She made it around them without being seen. Still no sign of Parker. Katie swore silently and broke cover.

"FBI. Don't move," she barked gun leveled at the men. They turned to look at her casually and the man she hadn't been able to see before stepped into the light of the lamp. She had a split second moment of utter shock.

"Surprise," Randall said, smiling darkly. Katie kept her gun leveled at them, moving her target back and forth between them so neither dared move not knowing which she'd shoot if they did. But they didn't seem scared.

"Randall," she breathed. She'd been set up. She'd known they'd do something she just hadn't expected this.

"Where's your cousin and his buddy?" Randall asked calmly, as if she didn't have a weapon trained on them.

"Where's Parker?" she shot back, her eyes never leaving them.

"Right here."

It was Raines' voice. He stepped out from under a causeway between buildings, with his gun to Parker's head. Parker was white as marble, absolute terror in his eyes as Raines prodded him forward.

Now Katie had three targets and no way to shoot any of them. If she shot Randall or Walker, Raines would shoot Parker. If she tried to shoot Raines she might hit Parker and Raines would still kill Parker. He'd be dead before he hit the ground.

"I'm sorry. They made me," Parker babbled, despite the fact he had the muzzle of a gun to his temple.

"You were in on this?" she asked him, betrayed. Randall laughed.

"Him? No, he was just a pawn. He didn't have a clue about us until about an hour ago. I made him make that phone call. You see his problem is that he's gullible. Perfect way to get you here and keep you from doing anything stupid. See, you aren't like us. You won't risk getting him killed. Except I was expecting more of you. Now where's Hanson and Penhall?"

"Like I'd tell you," Katie bit, stalling. Hoping to god, Tom had gotten the note by now and was on his way.

"You better. Or Mr. Parker here is going to be very dead," Raines said. Parker swallowed and shook in fear. Randall moved for her and she turned her gun on him.

"I think you came alone. They don't even know you're here do they?" Randall guessed.

"Let him go or I'll kill you," Katie threatened, hoping the bluff would work.

"Kill Randall and Parker is still dead. You can't kill all of us," Walker said. Katie gritted her teeth. He was right there was nothing she could do.

"What do you want?" Katie asked stalling for more time. The longer she kept them talking the better chance Tom would get here.

"The file and you of course," Randall said.

"How do you know about the file?" Katie asked.

"A little bird told me," Randall grinned.

"Hanson and Penhall were supposed to come too. This isn't like we planned it. Even if we get the file and her, they're still out there," Raines said agitated.

"Yes well, the best laid plans of mice and men. We'll deal with them later. First I want that file," Randall explained, drawing his own gun leisurely and pointing it at Katie. Now they really were in a Mexican standoff.

"Where is it?"

"Go to hell." Katie said.

"You must not care if Parker dies. Maybe I was wrong about you," Randall said moving toward her slowly. Katie backed up.

"You've been trying to kill me for over a year. Even if I tell you, you aren't going to let him live. You can't afford to leave witnesses," she answered truthfully. It was harsh and the panic it instilled in Parker was obvious but there was no way around it. He'd been written off as collateral damage from the beginning. No matter what she did, she couldn't save him.

"Well, you're right about that," Raines smirked.

Everything happened at once.

Raines pulled the trigger on Parker, the bullet entering one side of his head and out the other. He crumpled to the ground, a pool of blood growing under him rapidly.

Katie shot at Raines and hit, but the shot went wide, catching him in the shoulder as Randall fired and got Katie in the arm, disabling her. Raines roared in pain.

Katie dropped the gun unable to hold on to it, clutching her arm. Pain blinded, she tried to escape, turning and running, the foot of snow on the ground slowing her down. Randall and Walker pursued. There was no way she could out run them, wounded and in these conditions.

Walker caught her, grabbing the back of her coat and dragging her down. She rolled over kicking and hitting at him with her good arm. The last thing she saw was the butt of Randall's gun coming at her. Then, nothing.

#**#

"Shots fired at East Ridge High School."

Tom's heart nearly stopped. He was almost there, five miles left. _Let me make it, _he thought envisioning the worst. He saw Doug's yellow Ford pickup in the rearview mirror, cutting around a car stopped for the light and turning onto the road behind him. They raced the last five miles, getting out of their vehicles and noting Katie's and Walker's cars parked nearby.

Both drew their guns and Tom motioned for Doug to follow, heading for the south side of the building. Not a sound broke the silence. Where were they? If shots had been fired why didn't they hear anything? How long since the shots had been fired and the radio call?

"What happened?" Doug asked in a whisper.

"The meeting was moved up. Parker tried to get in closer and Katie went in after him," Tom answered.

"Parker's an idiot," Doug spat.

They followed the same set of tracks around the building Katie had, but this time they were obscured and run through, as if someone had followed the same path back, treading over the footprints originally made. Tom swallowed the lump of dread that lodged in his throat as they neared the end of the building. He looked at Doug and saw the same apprehension in his eyes. They rounded the corner guns drawn and ready, to find…nothing. Not a soul was there. Cautiously they edged out into the open, making sure the area was clear. It was then Tom saw the first indications shots had been fired. Martin Parker's body laid, eyes staring at the sky, in a sprawl on blood stained snow. Doug dropped to one knee beside him checking for a pulse just in case. He shook his head solemnly.

Tom stood mouth open in horror. If Parker was dead what had happened to Katie? Everything he'd been afraid of was happening. If he hadn't left her at the apartment to get the maps none of this would have happened. One decision, one lapse in judgment and now this.

He saw the spent rounds on the ground. More than one shot had been fired. He followed the wild trail away from the scene, the snow torn up in ruts, fearing what he would find. He found where Katie had fallen and stooped down hand over his mouth peering at the snow morbidly.

There had been a struggle, the snow was hollowed and had been flung recklessly. Blood colored it in smears, the Polaroid of he and Katie half buried under a scat of disturbed snow. No body. Whoever she'd met here had taken her. There wasn't enough blood for the wound to be fatal. If she was dead and they had taken her body to dump, they would have taken Parker's too.

"Halt!" Someone barked from the opposite corner of the building. Tom and Doug froze.

"Police, hands up!" The voice belonged to Fuller.

"It's us coach!" Doug yelled back. Fuller dropped his guard and ran over to where Doug still hovered over Parker, face taut with alarm.

"Oh Jesus," he muttered seeing Parker's body.

"What happened?" he asked. Doug shook his head tensely.

"I don't know, we just got here. The meeting got moved up, Parker went in and Katie went after him."

"Hanson?" Fuller called to him. Tom didn't answer. Doug and the captain trudged through the snow to his side. Tom didn't have to say anything.

"Penhall stay with Hanson. Don't touch anything," he ordered than ran off to advise the police officers arriving on the scene.

Tom felt Doug's hand clasp his shoulder in consolation and it broke him from his morbid trance. He shot up and started running back the way they had come. Doug ran after him, grabbing him by his coat collar.

"Where are you going?" Tom blinked. That was a stupid question.

"To find Katie," he said and turned to go, Doug still had a hold on his collar stopping him.

"How? We don't know what happened or where they went. We don't even know who _they_ is. It could have been Walker and the procurer or Randall and Raines," Doug told him, knowing his partner was running on instinct and panic not reason. He felt the same way but he wasn't as close to Katie as Tom was. One of them had to keep a level head.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Tom bit harshly. His tone harder than he intended out of frantic worry. Doug's face contorted into a mask of sorrowful sympathy. Fuller trotted up seeing what was going on. Knowing Hanson like he did, he knew Tom's first instinct would be to go after his cousin, even if he had no idea where to start. He didn't have to ask what he was doing. Fuller patted him on the shoulder.

"We'll find her."

Tom could only look back at his commanding officer with grave doubt.

#**#

Five hours passed. Police officers and K9s swarmed the school grounds like ants, looking for any sort of clue as to where Katie might be. Officers beat the bushes surrounding the campus in a line looking for her. Parker's body had been loaded into an ambulance and taken away to the morgue. Tom, Fuller and Doug helped with the search. No one could find anything. The dogs could follow her scent no further than the parking lot, presumably to where the perpetrator's car had been parked. They had absolutely nothing to tell them where or who had taken Katie.

Tom sat in his car, the door open and drove himself insane over it. Doug had taken his keys to keep him from harrying off after phantoms. Officers had quizzed him on the last time he had seen her. He'd answered woodenly, but in as great a detail as he possibly could. Knowing every nuance counted. Fuller had called the FBI and they would be here in the morning to aid in the search. Doug had issued the APB himself.

"Go home. We're calling off the search for the night," Adam said. Tom hadn't noticed his approach.

"What?" he spat incredulous and instantly furious.

"We can't do anything else tonight Tom. Maybe we'll see something during the day we can't now but we have nothing to go on. She could be hundreds of miles from here by now," Fuller explained as placating as possible.

"You can't just call it off!" Tom yelled, standing up. Fuller's lips tightened in understanding. It was one thing to work a missing person's case, it was another to know the person who'd been taken. It was worse when it was a loved one and you couldn't do a damn thing about it when your whole life had been built on saving the innocent and catching the guilty. Helpless just didn't cover it.

"We have to. The FBI will be here in the morning and maybe then we can get somewhere. I know you feel helpless but you have to let the professionals handle this," Adam soothed.

"You're damn right I feel helpless. I am a professional! I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Tom yelled plaintively.

"He means we have to let the guys that are trained to search for a missing person do their job. We know she was taken by car, that's the last place they can find a trace of her. There's nothing else we can do until we get something to go on." Doug said softly as he joined them. They all looked haggard and worn.

"Is there anything else? Anything that might give us something?" Fuller asked. Tom's jaw tensed and all the air went out of him. They were both right, there was nothing they could do. He sat back down and shook his head dismally.

"We might have found something on Randall and Raines. But that doesn't matter now," Tom said.

"What did you find?" Doug asked.

Tom launched into a halfhearted explanation of what they found.

"She was supposed to call you with the number and tell you what was going on," Tom said when he was through. Fuller winced at the information; if she had called, he had been in the shower and wouldn't have known.

"If I hadn't left her at the apartment while I went to get the map none of this would have happened," Tom reasoned. He felt responsible. Just like he had felt responsible for Amy's murder. He always blamed himself.

"You don't know that. Even if you'd been there, you would have went with her and they might have gotten you too. Katie knew what she was doing, you would have done the same thing," Doug said in a quiet voice. He was as worried as Tom only he didn't have the guilt of believing he was somehow responsible for it. Not much anyway, he told himself. What if she'd tried to call him before she chased after Parker and he'd missed it? He couldn't see Katie not trying to reach someone before running into something like this. She was too smart for that.

Tom nodded sadly. Doug was right. He would have.

"If she called, I was in the shower and I missed it. That makes me just as guilty as you Hanson. You couldn't have known this was going to happen," Fuller admitted. Tom gave him a despondent look.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" he said morosely. Doug and Fuller could think of nothing to say to that.


	16. Chapter 14: In Absentia

**Chapter 14: In Absentia**

Katie woke up facing flames. She automatically tried to scramble away from them, her eyes still unfocused. She yelped in pain as the action jerked her injured arm She couldn't move. Her hands were cuffed around the accordion like pipes of a radiator. Once her eyes focused she saw she needn't have panicked about the flames, they were held safely in a fireplace across the room, they had only looked so close because her vision had been hazy. Her head and arm hurt but she forced herself to take in her surroundings. Details might save her life, if she had any chance at all.

She had no idea how long she had been out but it was still dark outside. She saw bare wood floors, polished and waxed, pretty plush rugs, wing back chairs in front of the fireplace, a patchwork quilt tossed over the back of the antiquated couch. The walls were logs not brick or plaster. She was in a country cabin somewhere. From the décor, it was an expensive one, probably a resort. That made sense, the cabins would be far enough apart no one would know what they did here and no one would think to look in such an obscure place. To boot, it was probably distanced from the city and was likely half buried under snow without the regular maintenance the city got.

"Well, look who's awake," Nick said, leaning against the doorframe that led into what must be the kitchen. He was eating an apple with a casual air, his left arm in a make shift sling, a bandage visible beneath his white shirt.

"How's your shoulder?" she bit at him, lowering her head to her bound hands, rubbing the bump there. Her arm still seeped blood, they hadn't bothered to tend it. Raines stepped forward and grabbed her by her shirt, shaking her roughly.

"Watch your mouth," he growled. Katie didn't respond, she stayed completely unresponsive. If he thought she'd bend and break easily he was in for a surprise.

This was not the Katie Hanson he thought he knew, it wasn't the Katie Hanson Tom knew either. This was the new Katie Hanson. Equal parts who she once was and what circumstance had made her. This is where she drew the line. Something about the altercation behind the school, watching Raines kill Parker in cold blood had flipped a switch. Their plot had victimized someone else and now, though she was terrified of what they would do, afraid she'd end up dead, still haunted by her past, she had something to fight for other than herself.

She no longer feared Raines in the same way as she had. Yes, she feared for her life and Tom's and Doug's and anyone else who got in the way of his and Randall's plans but she no longer felt alone in this. She knew Tom wouldn't just let her disappear into the night, and where Tom went Doug and the others would likely follow. If she could stay alive long enough. Now, she had a lead on Raines and Randall, something she hadn't had before. This time they had miss stepped beyond repair. They couldn't just pass her off as a casualty of a case gone wrong.

Tom's words rang in her head giving her strength she hadn't had before. _You aren't alone anymore._

"She's conscious," he called back over his shoulder. Walker and Randall appeared behind him, Walker munching on a sandwich, Randall drinking a cup of coffee. Randall stepped around them in a sedated manner.

"Then let's get started."

Katie swallowed stilling herself. She knew what they wanted was information on the file and that they would stop at nothing to get it. If she gave it to them, they would have no reason to keep her alive. If she was careful, she might be able to manipulate their egos and get them to tell her what their involvement in the Rio case and this case was. She knew they were involved but not how. People got lazy when they thought the vessel of their confessions wouldn't survive to tell the tale. With the arrogance to commit the kinds of crimes they were indulging in came great ego, with great ego came a need to be noticed for the believed genius of their achievements. Narcissism and sociopathy. She would try to use it to her advantage.

Randall settled into one of the wingback chairs and made himself comfortable, obviously not intending to take part physically in what was to come. That fit the bill for him, make someone else do his dirty work. Katie tried to relax, knowing tensing would only make it worse. She'd learned that in Rio. Go as limp as you can to prevent as much damage and pain as you can for as long as you can. This wasn't going to be easy for any of them. They wouldn't be able to break her as easily as they hoped and she was fighting the building swell of memories. Willing them to go away.

Raines and Walker looked on in confusion. Neither had thought Randall was going to be a by stander. Their expressions betrayed that. Randall sipped his coffee again.

"Get on with it. Find out where that file is. I don't care how."

Raines smiled perversely, striding over to Katie with all the confidence won of having a bound captive who had no option to fight back. He drew his gun with his good arm, trailing it along the side of her face and wedged it under her jaw gleefully. Katie avoided his gaze, she didn't want to provoke him until she was ready. She allowed herself one moment of true fear, her eyes sliding shut against it. _Find me Tommy. Please find me._

"You shot me," he said, as if she didn't already know that.

"Bitch!" he spat.

He hauled back and struck her across the face with the muzzle of the gun making her head snap to the side with the force of it. Her cheekbone exploded with radiating pain making her gasp involuntarily. Raines laughed. Sober, he was no longer attacking her out of desperation, he was taking out his frustration and anger on her and he was going to enjoy every moment of it. She was the reason he was in this position in the first place. She knew she could hope for no mercy from him.

"Where's the file?" he asked. It took Katie a moment to face him, but when she did she locked eyes with him.

"I don't know," Katie answered in half truth. She didn't know where Tom had hidden the original. Raines stared back at her, his cool blue eyes brightening in anger. He rose to his feet and kicked her hard in the gut. All the breath went out of her, her ribcage throbbing. If she hadn't been cuffed to the radiator she would have been doubled over by the blow.

"Where is it? What's in it?" Raines railed. Randall sat by quietly watching, enjoying his cup of coffee like he was watching the morning news.

When she regained her breath Katie flipped her head back, so her eyes were not obscured by her hair. This time she didn't answer, she only gave him gaze for gaze. That seemed to infuriate him worse than ever. He reached down, grabbed her injured arm, and squeezed. Katie yelled in pain, she couldn't help it. His gripe drove the bullet still lodged near the bone deeper.

"Tell me!" he ordered.

"Go to hell," Katie groaned around the renewed flare of pain.

Raines slapped her and she gave him a defiant glare. Randall sighed from his vantage point.

Walker blanched; he'd thought this was going to be a simple murder. Maybe with a bit of interrogation to get what they wanted but the offhand way Randall acted, the glint in Raines' eye when Randall told him to get on with it, the way Raines seemed to be relishing what he was doing, told him he'd been very wrong. Of course this didn't make him better than them. It was because he was a coward. He could stomach shooting someone, selling them off to a life of slavery but he was too gutless to take it this far. Torture took too long.

"Are you playing with her or trying to get information out of her Nick?" Randall taunted. Raines head snapped around to face his superior in obvious anger. Randall was unfazed by Raines expression. Katie watched them, realizing that not only had their plan not gone off without a hitch, they were at odds with each other, whether they realized it or not.

"What's wrong Nick? Tired of doing Randall's dirty work for him?" she taunted. It was a calculated jab. Weighed on the notion that Raines' flare of anger was provoked by Randall's careless way of dealing with him, his over bearing and authoritarian handling of the man who was supposed to be his partner in crime. The dissention was already there, she intended to make it worse. If she could get them at each other's throats they might be more worried about one another than her.

"Shut up!" Raines barked kicking her again in the lower back. Katie curled into a ball against the pain. This was bad, but she'd had worse in Rio. They hadn't calculated that into their plan apparently. It took more to break someone who was already used to taking a beating. It was going to take more than a few hits to get her anywhere near talking. Willing the pain away, she hoped that worked to her advantage. If they realized that was why she wasn't breaking, they might resort to other methods that the traffickers had used, using psychological torture as well as physical and the torrent of memories that fought to surface behind the haze of pain might not be able to handle that. The nightmares were bad enough, reliving it might be unbearable.

"You'll tell me. One way or another you'll tell me," Raines growled kneeling down with a finger in her face. Katie managed to level her gaze at him again, shifting so she was facing him head on. She gave him an insolent smile and kicked him in his wounded arm. He shouted in agony, toppling back onto his rear and clutching his arm.

"It's not going to be that easy." She said through clenched teeth.

#**#

Tom went home but the last thing he was able to do was sleep. His mind was flooded with conjured images of what had happened, of what might be happening now. He stood at the end of the entrance hall that let out into his living room, gazing at the toppled house of cards. Tom had a bad habit of letting things consume him.

Amy's murder had consumed him until all he could think about were the three point three seconds he hadn't reacted. He'd become obsessed with finding her murderer and seeing justice done. When Harry had been shot in the line of duty, he'd obsessively pursued the shooter until things had gone wrong and he'd been accused of killing the man in cold blood. Tom didn't take well to his friends and loved ones being hurt or killed. It triggered something primal in him that only dissipated when it was soothed by justice. It didn't particularly care how it got that justice. Only his deep sense of right and wrong kept it in check, preventing him from becoming a vigilante.

He spent the rest of the night (or morning depending on how you looked at it, the search had been called off at four a.m.) pacing in worry. Every tick of the clock on his wall reminding him that wherever Katie was, the longer it took to find her the higher the chance they would never would or if they did all they'd have to show for it was her body.

He did interrupt his pacing to plot out the location of the restaurants on the map and he'd given Fuller the phone number they'd found. The search was on hold but that didn't mean they weren't still working on finding her, on figuring out who had taken her. His initial theory panned out, the restaurants were in two different districts. Carnaval proved to be located in the Ipanema district of Rio, a tourist hot spot and an affluent and wealthy area. That was in stark contrast to the Rocinha slums. There was no way Raines could have been in both places at once, one of the receipts had been forged as a cover. But why? Tom had a pretty good idea that he'd been informing Randall covertly and that the phone call he'd made from Carnaval had been to let him know about the impending bust. Now that he had a lead he had to prove that his instincts were right.

It didn't help his growing worry.

#**#

Contrary to his own advice Fuller didn't go home and sleep either. Neither did Doug. Both kept working through the night. Fuller stayed up, calling in favors and waking disgruntled old comrades in an attempt to track down the owner of the phone number Raines had called at Carnaval.

Doug followed up on the search for Katie discovering that all of Parker's surveillance equipment was missing. It was as if he'd never been there. The equipment in Walker's house and his classroom were gone as well. Whoever had taken her did not want anything that had been said discovered. Andrew Walker was nowhere to be found, gone in the night and that meant where ever he was chances were so was Katie. That came as no surprise. They already figured Walker was part of this since he had been at the meeting.

#**#

By the following night, the FBI was on site. Katie had been missing for almost twenty four hours and who the FBI had sent to led the investigation had everybody pissed. The chapel was swarming with its usual activity; officers bustled back and forth in the course of their work. Sal or Blowfish as he was better known, the chapel's janitor …ahem maintenance engineer (he hated being called _just_ a janitor) was busy scraping gum off the underside of desks with a paint scraper. They all tried to keep their noses out of and ignore the standoff going on over the long table in the middle of the building. Doug, Fuller and Tom were facing off with Spencer Phillips, the Special Agent In Charge of their FBI field office. They had worked with him before and none of them liked him. He was stodgy and by the book to the point of being asinine. He'd overlook or ignore what was right in front of him if it didn't meet with "procedure".

"You don't have anything better than we do!" Doug said perturbed.

Tom was pacing the length of the table, shooting Phillips looks that would have boiled the blood of a normal person. He looked like a captive lion treading at the end of his chain, waiting for an opportunity to break it and attack the first thing that happened by. Right now, that thing was Spencer Phillips.

"We are doing everything we can. The snow is obscuring anything the dogs might pick up. I have agents out in the field with more experience with kidnappings than you will ever see. Agent Hanson is with the FBI this is our case not yours," Phillips said coolly, his half-bald pate reflecting the yellow light of the aged lamps over head.

"Walker is missing, Parker is dead and his equipment is gone and you don't think there's something more to this?" Fuller asked. Spencer leveled a mild look of irritation at him.

"That is peripheral to the matter at hand. As it stands this case is dead in the water, we'll never get a conviction now. Our objective is to find Agent Hanson," Spencer said mildly.

"Whoever took her knew where the surveillance equipment was in all three locations. Walker doesn't have the experience to know how to dismantle all of that. He was a tip off man not the head honcho," Fuller said.

Spencer put his hands in his pockets and ambled around the table, careful to avoid the side Tom still paced. Tom's agitation and blatant vehemence toward him had never been imposing before. It had been an annoyance but now it was his cousin missing and he looked like he might kill anything he thought stood in his way of finding her.

"Probably the procurer."

Tom's temper got the better of him, though he managed to keep it reined in enough he didn't reach over the table and haul Phillips over it.

"How do you know? Nick Raines tried to kill her. Eric Randall did all but threaten to kill all of us. How do you know it wasn't them? That they weren't in on it?" He spat.

They had given Phillips limited information about their suspicion that Raines and Randall were crooked and might be behind Katie's disappearance. Fuller had advised them both not to reveal all they had, especially not the file or anything they'd found in it once he knew it was Spencer Phillips who they'd be working with. They were still waiting on Fuller's contacts to get back to them on the phone number, until then they didn't want to let Phillips in on their information. Agent Phillips gave Tom a measuring look down his nose.

"You have no proof of anything. Raines got drunk and attacked his partner. That doesn't prove anything except that Raines has a drinking problem."

Tom's eyes went wide and he came scrabbling around the table after Phillips who backed away in surprise. Doug grabbed him before he could get his hands on the FBI agent and throttle him.

"Time is running out. She's one of yours and you don't even care that her partner may be behind this," Tom raged.

"Hanson that's enough," Fuller said placing a restraining hand on his chest but the dark look he gave Phillips said he was as angry with Phillips as Tom was. Tom didn't fight to get loose but his eyes betrayed his animosity.

"Where are Raines and Randall now?" Tom asked as Doug released his hold on his partner. Phillips sniffed at him.

"I'm sure they are back in Virginia and Raines is being dealt with," he said with confidence.

"Have you checked?" Doug said crossing his arms. Phillips said nothing for a moment then picked up the nearest phone. He hated to admit it but he didn't know where Raines and Randall were. It hadn't seemed like a mitigating factor so he hadn't bothered to keep tabs on them. The others knew the answer before he hung up. Phillips face was carefully schooled in indifference but the way he slowly set the phone back on the cradle said it all.

"Neither of them can be accounted for. They never came back from here," he said.

"Uh, captain. You better see this."

Everybody turned to face Sal who was on his knees under Penhall's desk, checking for gum to remove. Only his head was visible over the top of it and his hand. In it he held a listening device. The three officers exchanged knowing glances. Phillips was shocked beneath his stern, nothing but business, visage. This was not something he had expected.

Someone had bugged the chapel without them knowing. The only person who knew enough about the case and the chapel to pull that off was Raines.

Even without more information they knew why Katie had been taken and by whom. Raines and Randall knew about the file, they'd openly discussed it when they worked on it at the chapel and the listening devices had let Raines and Randall know that. Thankfully they wouldn't know what they had found since it hadn't been discovered while they worked on the file here. Walker's disappearance meant he was in on it with them. Raines and Randall had used the Hunter's Gulch case to set them up. What was worse, they had essentially sacrificed the six missing kids in this case to do it.

"I want this place swept, now. No one says anything else until we know this place is clean," Fuller said, snapping into action, gathering up officers to start checking every nook and cranny for more bugs. Phillips immediately balked at Fuller.

"I didn't authorize you to do that," he said his mouth set in irritation. Fuller rounded on him.

"I didn't ask either," Adam bit back.

"You don't have jurisdiction in this case. Agent Hanson is our man," Phillips barked.

"No one but Raines or Randall could have bugged this place without us knowing. No one else knew we were even doing an investigation," Doug pointed out.

"I've got six missing kids, the missing cousin of one of my officers and two rogue FBI agents that are involved in it. I'm making it my jurisdiction," Fuller raged.

"You have no right to interfere with a federal investigation!" Phillips yelled back.

"You know what you can do with your right to interfere," Fuller insinuated.

Freed from Doug's grasp Tom advanced on Phillips, who backed until he was pinned against the railing adjacent to the meeting table. Tom got within a hand's breadth of the man's nose.

"Still think Raines and Randall aren't involved?"


	17. Chapter 15: Fait Accompli

**Chapter 15: Fait Accompli**

Katie sagged against the radiator she was chained to for support. Her hair a bedraggled mess, fresh bruises visible where Raines' gun had hit. Her breathing came in ragged drags. She'd been denied food, water or sleep. Some of her bravado was gone with the beatings and she was thankful for a brief respite while Raines and Randall conversed over surveillance equipment and Walker paced with increasing nervousness. He'd already made several protests about the time the interrogation was taking. She had given them nothing, she might have bent but she hadn't broken.

Day light had come and gone, then come again. She thought she'd been here at least a day and a half but she couldn't be sure. It was all beginning to become a blur but she held onto her sanity with tooth and nail. Determined they'd never get information out of her unless she wanted them to have it. She stayed quietly listening and tried to gather what strength she could while her captors took their break.

"They know about the listening devices," Raines said, pulling off the headset he was wearing. He sported a bloody broken nose and his shoulder wound had broken open again. Every time she got the chance, Katie fought back as best she could. Breaking his nose had enraged Nick so badly he'd stepped up his questioning, moving from hits and kicks to more persuasive methods of questioning. He'd put a bar of soap in a sock and used it as a makeshift blackjack.

"We're not going to get anything else, they'll gut the place looking for the others. They're looking for her and Hanson and Penhall probably know we took her but they don't know where she is. We still have time," Randall observed. Walker however was too panicked to see it that way.

"We have time? This was supposed to be an easy job. They have that file and the two who were working with her probably know about you. They were supposed to be with her, I'm not going down for this. Just give me my money and I'm gone. I'm out of it," he chattered, eyes wide and red rimmed with nerves.

"You're out of it when I say you're out of it. You'll get your money when I say you get it," Randall snapped. Walker cowered and dropped quiet under his seething gaze.

_So that's what the money was for_, Katie thought. They were paying Walker off for his involvement. Raines favored the schoolteacher with a sneer of distain.

"He's been whining the whole time. Just let him have his money and go. He can't go to the police he's as guilty as we are," Raines said waving in Walker's direction as if to shoo a mosquito. Randall shook his head.

"No one is going anywhere until we know where that file is. Don't tell me what to do Raines, I'm the boss here not you."

Raines turned red in anger, nostrils flaring. He quelled it quickly under Randall's threatening glare but it still burned. Katie's jab about being tired of doing Randall's dirty work had hit home. All he was doing was being shafted, bossed around and had nothing to show for it. He was supposed to be Randall's partner not his lackey.

"He's right. Even if we get the file and kill her, the other two are still out there. What are we going to do about them?" Raines observed.

"If we get the file, it won't matter. They won't have any evidence you idiot. She'll just be a victim of circumstance. We'll be long gone before they have a chance to catch us. I'd hoped to get all of them but she and the file are the only things that matter. Now get back to it," Randall ordered.

_They're coming apart at the seams. If I just nudge them a little_, Katie thought.

Raines complied but set his mouth in building rage. He'd had about enough of Randall's threats and arrogance. He was as entitled to the windfall this would bring them as he was. Randall was just as responsible for things getting this far. Slowly the beginnings of a plan to undermine Randall began to form. If Randall wouldn't give him his due…he'd take it.

Katie heard him coming, hefting her head up and refusing to be cowed by him.

"So that's what all the money in the brief case was for. Walker was part of it all along. You and Randall get tired of your business in Rio and decide to start one here?" she said darkly. She hoped he might bite, seeing as he was already annoyed with Randall, hoping to prove he was as big as he thought he was. He didn't disappoint.

"Oh no. This place isn't big enough to produce anything worth bothering with," Raines teased, checking the bar of soap. It was dented but still intact, much like Katie. There were a plethora of bruises under her clothes from that thing she was sure. She could feel where the blows had damaged tissue, the pain made it hard to move even in the confined space she had been given.

"Then if you aren't the procurer, who is?" Katie asked, truly confused. He favored her with a snide smile.

"He's dead. I'm afraid he didn't agree to our price. Thought he could make more if he kept his territory. This is his cabin," Raines said.

Things started to come together in Katie's mind. Randall and Raines had sent her down here on this assignment in another attempt to get rid of her. They had bribed Walker and the procurer to kill her or cooperate while they killed her themselves. There had never been anything to investigate; they already knew there was a trafficking ring here. It had been an excuse to get rid of her and Tom's presence threw a wrench in it. It was supposed to be a repeat of Rio. The case would go bad and she'd have ended up dead. A brave agent lost in the line of duty. They'd be free of any suspicion and could just go on doing what they were doing.

A thread of sorrow wound itself into her psyche. If the procurer was dead even if she got out of here alive, they'd never be able to find the kids that were missing. Walker likely didn't know what happened to them once he'd been paid and the procurer was the only one that would have had the information they needed. Six more lives to add to the body count.

"So you were trying to do what you already tried in Rio. Didn't you learn the first time? You know, Albert Einstein defined stupidity as trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result," Katie taunted.

Raines snarled at her sarcasm, hitting her across the ribs with the soap in a sock. Katie exclaimed in pain. It came out as a short, hoarse bark since her mouth and throat were so dry.

It was all just another way to try and get her to talk. She knew she'd collapse from it eventually but she was fighting to gain information from them. To bide for time so Tom could find her, but she didn't know how much longer she could hold out. In Rio, they had kept her fed and watered because she was a source of income. All Randall and Raines wanted was information, they weren't concerned with her longevity. They were counting on her breaking before she got far enough to die from lack of water or food.

"They were supposed to kill you," Randall said mildly from his usual spot in the wingchair by the fireplace. Katie looked at him and gave him a cynical smile. _So you were betrayed by your own operation for money. How ironic._

"I guess they thought it would be more profitable if they threw me in a brothel. Can't trust anyone anymore, can you?"

Randall raised an eyebrow at her and got up. He knelt down in front of her speaking as calmly as if he were talking to a colleague at the office.

"You're resistance is impressive. I'll give you that. But it's pointless. Either way you're going to end up dead. Tell me where the file is and your cousin and his partner won't die."

"Got a bridge to sell me too?" Katie snapped.

"It's over Katie. Your cousin has no hope of finding you," he pressed. Katie grinned savagely. If anyone would find her, against all odds it would be Tom. She had to hold on to that hope or she had nothing.

"Don't count on that." She said petulant. Under her obstinate façade came the thought.

_Hurry, Tommy._

#**#

_Forty-Eight Hours._ Katie had been missing for two days. Tom had the number stuck in his head. He'd always been good with numbers, capable of remembering a seventeen digit vehicle identification number after one glance. He'd also developed a habit of obsessing over them, the three point three seconds he might have prevented Amy's death, the serial number off the gun that had killed the man he was wrongly convicted of killing, the mounting hours since Katie had gone missing without a trace.

Agent Phillips had been no help at all, he hadn't turned up anything more than they had. She was just gone. He remembered reading somewhere that forty-eight hours was the end of the safety threshold. That most people found after forty-eight hours were found dead. _Forty Eight hours._

With Agent Phillips help they'd begun a much wider search area. Randall, Raines' and Katie's homes had been searched in Virginia. The last hotel rooms they occupied scoured for any clue. Martin Parker's room had been sealed and searched. No leads were found anywhere. There had been no flights out of the area with anyone matching their descriptions. No cars rented that hadn't already been returned and accounted for except for Katie's, which was still in city impound as evidence. Fuller's contacts still hadn't gotten back to him about the phone number. Phillips had confiscated all of Katie's luggage in the hopes it might have something they could use…it didn't. They had nothing.

He was driving himself mad. He'd spent every second he wasn't at the chapel trying to dig up anything on where they might have taken Katie, pacing, obsessing and guilt tripping himself. He'd gone back to the school and tramped every inch of ground looking for anything. Nothing. Katie had become nothing. It was like she'd blinked out of existence.

He'd left the house of cards where it had fallen. The file still lay exactly as they had left it. He hadn't slept, he'd barely eaten. Dirty clothes lay wherever they fell. Beer cans and several empty bottles of Jim Beam lay scattered across the living room and kitchen. When he wasn't trying to find Katie he was trying to drown the morbid guilt and consuming sorrow that he never was going to find her. To numb the grief.

_Forty eight hours. _He'd gotten the photo Katie had dropped from the evidence locker after he'd begged permission. They had agreed after it had been finger printed and only his and hers were present. Now he sat hollow eyed against the foot of his couch staring at it.

He felt completely helpless. He couldn't find her and had no idea what had happened to her other than what he knew was a foregone conclusion and probably a past event. Katie was most likely dead. Killed by Randall and Raines to cover their tracks. He should have had some solace in the fact that if their investigation of the number Raines' had called from Carnaval panned out they would be able to prove they were dirty but he didn't. Proving they were responsible for what had happened to her before didn't hold the power it had when in the end they would have won. Even if they never set foot outside of a prison again, Katie would still be dead. He would still have failed to protect her. Even if they managed to prove Randall and Raines were responsible for her murder when …the body…turned up it still wouldn't give him his cousin back.

Tom drew up his knees to his chin and rested his arms on them, dangling the photo between his outstretched arms. Katie's bright smile beaming back at him from so long ago. He gave the photo a bittersweet smile, tracing his fingers over their likenesses, immortalized forever in that moment.

"_I'll find you Katie. Somehow, someway. I swear I will,"_ he whispered to it, to her, wherever she was.

Tom had never been one to believe in the supernatural but right now he hoped somehow…she heard him.

Rap, rap rap.

Tom heard it but he didn't really pay attention to it. He was still too wrapped up in the moment. In his obsession of guilt. In the might have been.

Rap, rap, rap.

Tom snapped out of his somber reverie and got up to answer the door.

"What?" he snapped before he could see who was behind it. Fuller and Doug stood on the other side, unsettled by his disheveled appearance. Fuller's mouth set in concern. Doug's eyebrows pulled tight in worry seeing his partner look so despondent. Tom looked like he had when he'd gone to prison. To Adam he looked like he had the day he'd come to check on him after Amy's death and he knew that did not bode well for Tom. He'd become obsessed with catching her killer, nearly killing the man when he found him and only relenting at the last second.

"Mind if we come in?" Fuller asked. Tom looked from the captain to Doug, then behind him at the mess, the empty bottles. Fuller said it before Tom could.

"Let me guess. It's not a good time?"

Tom had the humility to look slightly stung by it, scratching his head to cover the fact.

"No not really," he said.

"We got the info on that number. We wanted to tell you about in person," Doug hazarded in a small voice. Tom nodded solemnly and stepped back from the door so they could come in, shutting the door behind them.

"And check on you. This looks familiar," Fuller said looking around Tom's apartment at the disaster it was in. Tom could only sigh at his observation.

"We got the evidence we need on Raines and Randall. It took so long because Fuller's contacts did some of their own follow up. The number is Randall's, it's a private line. The CIA has been trying to track down who owned it for two years in connection with that Rio trafficking ring. They knew that someone high up was involved but not who. Now they do," Doug said hoping that would lift his partner's spirits. Tom gave him a blank look.

"That's great, they knew the whole time and didn't do anything about it and it still doesn't tell us where Katie is does it? So what does it matter?" Tom answered glumly.

Doug frowned sympathetically, reaching down toward the coffee table to pick up one of the cards casually. Tom snapped before he could stop himself.

"Don't touch that!"

Doug pulled his hand back like it had been bitten, taken aback by Tom's temper. Tom ran a hand through his hair and gave Doug an apologetic glance.

"Sorry, just… that's the last...that's…," he tried to explain. Doug didn't need an explanation, he understood. It was the last thing she'd done here, Tom's last link to her and he was holding onto it as if it might give him the key to it all. He nodded at his partner.

"There's something else, it's tenuous but once this is over it might help with a conviction if we can find Randall and Raines. The ballistics report on Martin Parker came in, the bullet matches Raines' gun. It also matches a bullet pulled out of a Mark Wood that was found floating off the docks Wednesday morning," Fuller said, taking in the empty liquor bottles and beer cans.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tom asked hotly, unable to handle hearing what he was afraid of hinted at aloud. Fuller gauged his response carefully, knowing if he phrased it wrong Tom might slip off the edge of the emotional precipice he was teetering on.

"It's been two days Hanson. If we can't find her, this might be the only thing we have to connect them to her disappearance."

He didn't dare say 'when we find her body' or 'murder'. Tom had that near demented glint in his eye. Tom swallowed hard but kept his composure. Fuller and Doug watched him, seeing the barely controlled maelstrom he was keeping in check.

"So Raines' killed someone else. Why? Who is this guy?" he asked.

"We can't be sure yet. He's got a rap sheet a mile long but not for anything like trafficking. But I'm still willing to bet he was the procurer. He had a passport on him when he was found. South America, the middle east, eastern Europe. All trafficking hot spots. I'm guessing Raines got rid of him to keep him from interfering in their plans. He must not have been willing to agree to cooperate for whatever reason," Fuller explained. Tom nodded in understanding, picking up the picture again and looking at it.

"That means we're never going to find out what happened to those kids. This has been happening all along without us knowing," Doug said.

"Probably," Adam answered. Tom said nothing for a long while. Adam finally came forward and laid his hand on his shoulder, peering over at the photo he was holding.

"You know you may have to let her go Tom," he advised sadly. Tom sniffed as if he were squelching tears and shook his head.

"I can't let her go like that," he said.

"I know. But we may never know what happened. We don't have any leads," Fuller said. He knew it hurt to hear it. Tom looked up at him and he saw all the despair he was hiding in the shadows of his eyes.

"I gotta know Captain. Either way I have to know," he said. Fuller nodded and squeezed his shoulder in empathy. He understood Tom's need but he was also a realist. He knew their chances had dropped by more than half of ever finding Katie alive based on the passage of time alone, given the circumstances and who they knew took her those chances were probably closer to five percent.

Doug however was not so cynical or jaded. He patted Tom on the shoulder reassuringly.

"We'll find her and bring her back."

Tom sniffed again, not looking up at his best friend.

"Look, I'm sorry I hit on her. It wasn't serious. We're just friends. She just wanted to drive you crazy," Doug said, feeling slightly guilty about the whole thing in hindsight. Tom managed to chuckle weakly.

"I know," Tom said, then paused.

"Doug if we find her you can date her all you want. I'll even make the dinner reservations."

"When we find her," Doug corrected optimistically. He knew what the reality probably was, but he couldn't voice it, couldn't entertain it for Tom's sake. He wasn't sure how Tom would handle it if she really was dead. He'd already lost his father and Amy. He'd already lost any shade of innocence he had. Doug worried this might destroy him altogether.

Tom looked up at him then, his expression lost and forlorn.

"I just want her back."


	18. Chapter 16: Servatis A Periculum

**Chapter 16: Servatis A Periculum**

Dawn. At least Katie thought it was dawn. She couldn't be sure anymore that the orange shafts of light she thought were the first rays of the sun weren't actually the flickering flames of the fireplace. She'd slipped too far into survival mode to be completely part of reality. She couldn't move anymore even if she had wanted to. Not without being forced. Every inch of her hurt. She was so tired and thirsty. Hunger seemed to be blunted by the pain but she wanted water so badly. Wanted the pain to go away. She almost wished they'd just kill her and be done with it.

Walker had retreated to a corner of the living room in horror. He'd never been forced to see the results of what he did. The reality of what human trafficking actually resulted in. He was now so terrified by Raines' and Randall's capability to torture with impunity he was afraid for his own life. Randall had begun to show signs of frustration and impatience, though his was far more subdued than Raines'. Nick was beset by it.

"God damn it. Where is that file? You're going to die anyway just tell us where it is and we can kill you and get it over with!" he raged, hauling her halfway off the floor by her shirt. Katie groaned deeply in pain. Her sand dry mouth made it hard to gasp words out.

"No," she managed. She would have said they had taken enough lives and that no matter what they did she'd never let them take Tom and Doug with her. But she didn't have the strength to. Raines threw her back down on the floor in fury and stalked across the room yelling. Katie slumped on the floorboards, like a child's rag doll. She hadn't given up hope Tom would find her yet, she still hung onto the desperate hope he would like a lifeline.

"She's not going to tell us anything! We're running out of time. Just kill her," Nick demanded. Randall leveled an irritated and furious glare at him.

"I'll decide when she dies," he said through clenched teeth. Raines puffed up in renewed insolence, his mouth twisting into a grotesque scowl. When this was over Randall would pay for his arrogance. He'd pay. He already had it planned.

"The kids are going to die from the cold and starvation if we don't get out of the country soon. We only have two. Without them we don't have a source of income once we leave!" Raines spat.

Katie's heart jumped. _Two of the kids are still alive!_ She couldn't die, couldn't give up, no one else knew. That simple knowledge gave her new resolve. New strength to keep fighting. She'd been near giving up, willing to just let them kill her despite her hope but now, now she had to stay alive.

"I know that Nick. But you are right this is taking too long. The cargo containers will be noticed eventually. I think it's time we sped things up," Randall said rising from his chair languidly.

"_Oh god, they're holding them on the shipping docks,"_ Katie thought.

Walker looked from Raines to Randall in shock. He hadn't known they had some of the kids in holding. Something about it provoked him and he started to rise, to demand they give him his money again so he could go. Raines pinned him with a grimace and he sat back down.

Katie was too weak to bother looking at them but she heard every word. She heard it as Randall swaggered into the other room with a clack, clack, clack of his alligator skin loafers. She heard the returning staccato steps and the tapping of him doing something with something small and metal. Raines laughed then, evilly. She hadn't heard him use that laugh before. Katie tried to find the strength to lift her head and couldn't.

Nick did it for her. He grabbed her by her wounded arm and wrenched her around, shoving his thumb into the gunshot wound causing her to bellow in agony despite her parchment dry throat, and lips so desiccated they'd cracked and bled. Her wrists were pulled so hard against the cuffs that bound her it felt like they might dislocated, she wanted to struggle but what he'd wrenched her around to see held her stock still in absolute terror.

"_God no." _She wasn't sure if the words had escaped her lips or if she'd only thought them.

Raines supremely satisfied face didn't tell her if it was the fear written on her face or her words that made him seem so pleased. She knew what Randall was doing. She recognized the little spoon, the lighter with its bright flame licking the bottom of it, the water that glistened as it was heated to dissolve the pure white powder he'd placed there. The needle he speared the tiny piece of cotton with and pulled the poison up into the barrel of the syringe.

_China white. Pure flake._ 10 CCs by the look of the vial next to the cooking paraphernalia, enough to kill her if Randall wasn't careful. With it he might be able to get the information out of her about the file and she wouldn't be able to resist him. Once the drug hit her system she wouldn't care what she said.

The voice she'd managed to nearly silence altogether roared back to life in jubilant triumph and rapture. It would get what it wanted, whether she wanted to give it or not. She knocked it back down viciously. It shut off instantly. She no longer desired the drug to hide from what she hadn't wanted anyone to know. To hide from herself or the memories she didn't want to remember. Every one of those memories came surging to the surface violently sending her into a mental spiral of blind fear.

"Let's give her wings," Randall said moving toward her, slipping his belt off to use as a tourniquet.

Katie's eyes were white rimmed in horror. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of human instinct, she found the ability to move. She fought, kicking and flailing even though she knew it was no use. Nick forced her down and in her condition, her fighting was nothing more than the beating of a moth's wings on the glass of its prison jar. Randall knelt with exaggerated slowness, letting her see the needle, letting her fear build as he slipped the belt around her good arm and cinched it tight.

"Tell me where it is Katie," he said firmly.

Katie held fast to the very last despite the erratic thumping of her heart in her chest, despite the sheer terror.

"Never," she growled.

Raines clamped his hand over her mouth, moaning in pain as he used his injured arm to hold her still. Randall sighed in resignation and looked for a useable vein. The traffickers in Rio had succeeded in collapsing many of the veins making him have to delay in injecting the drug in order to find one that he could use. He found one and slipped the needle in.

Katie screamed in anguish so hard that it tore at her throat, it sounded like nothing more than a muffled wail with Raines' hand held tightly over her mouth. Then… she no longer cared.

#**#

The chapel sounded more like a wrestling arena than a police precinct. This time Tom wasn't alone in his fury, everybody was yelling at once. Phillips was holding his own but with three to one he was outnumbered.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Doug yelled, his booming voice echoing off the empty walls of the chapel. It was long after dark, the crew had gone home hours ago. Katie had been missing for seventy-two hours and Phillips was of the firm mind that it was time to wrap up their search for a living person in light of the information Fuller, Tom and Doug had revealed. They'd finally given him everything they had on Raines and Randall.

"Officer Penhall, it's been three days. Obviously, Raines and Randall want her dead. There's no point in continuing this stage of the investigation," Spencer said reasonably. Reason, however, had no home here.

"So that's just it? You're gonna call the search off? You aren't going to even try and track down Raines and Randall?" Adam bit.

"They have probably went into hiding by now. We'll keep looking for them but given the current information looking for Agent Hanson is no longer a priority," Phillips snapped back.

Tom's temper flared to full blaze.

"Not a priority? My cousin is out there somewhere probably dead doing her job and it's not a priority?" he growled advancing on Phillips. Doug and Fuller made no move to stop him this time.

"Let it go, Hanson," Phillips advised.

"Let it go? You've had this thing for days and you've gotten nowhere. You're going to shove this in a dead file and no one will look at for six months! Don't tell me to let it go!" Tom fumed. Phillips puffed up and straightened his jacket.

"The only thing we know is that Raines and Randall are crooked. You have no idea if your cousin is a victim in this or not. She might just as well be their accomplice," Phillips said.

"What? You have got to be kidding me! You can't really think that!" Doug spat.

"Until I have proof otherwise, it's always a possibility," Phillips sniffed.

"This is why she didn't tell anyone before now. She knew no one would believe her unless she had proof and now that we have it you still don't believe it," Tom said in acerbic disgust. Spencer sighed in aggravation. The jump street officers had a bad habit of becoming emotionally involved in their cases. By the book seemed to be an unknown phrase to them.

"If she isn't their accomplice then she's dead already," Phillips said.

Tom came unglued.

"Don't say that," he warned. Phillips didn't seem to see the dangerous way he shifted from foot to foot, the way Tom's head tilted back just enough that he was staring Phillips right in the eye.

"You know it and I know it," Phillips said.

"Shut up!" Tom yelled.

"It's time to face facts Hanson," Phillips said sagely bitter. Tom moved. One second he was standing still, the next he'd clocked Spencer Phillips so hard he flipped back over the railing by the meeting table in a tangled tumble.

"There's a fact for ya," Doug shot angrily. Tom stood there waiting for another excuse to hit Phillips again. The federal agent got to his feet in fury, rubbing his jaw. It was already beginning to show red marks that matched the imprint of Tom's knuckles.

"I should have you arrested for assaulting a federal officer!" he barked.

"Go ahead!" Tom barked back.

"You had that coming Phillips," Adam said his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Come on Hanson, we'll do the job ourselves," Adam added pulling Tom in the direction of the door. Tom went still verging on tackling Phillips again. If looks could kill Phillips would have already been in a coffin.

#**#

By the time Tom got home, his temper still hadn't cooled. He was so hopped up on fury he couldn't be still, but sorrow had begun to creep back in, stilling the rage. He stood in his living room and paced, a bottle of liquor in one hand, dark shadows under his eyes. He was torn, Phillips was probably right, just as the captain had been but he couldn't accept it. He wouldn't. He would not give it all up and count her among the dead. Not without proof.

Despairing anger at what he couldn't control got the better of him and Tom struck out at the first available vent for that anger. He sent a cluster of pictures and framed documents careening across the room with one sweep of his arm. A grouping of empty whiskey bottles shattered satisfactorily with a violent throw. When he'd spent the rush of rage he stood there, head down and despondent.

He noticed that his answering machine light blinked, indicating he had a message. Tom turned the bottle back on his lips, savoring the burn of the whiskey as it slid down his throat, hoping it would numb him. He eyed the machine trying to decide if he wanted to hear the message. He thought he probably didn't but he shambled over and hit the rewind button. It took twice as long as he thought it should have. _Somebody left one long message_, he thought as the machine clicked and the tape stopped. He hit play and nearly dropped the bottle of whiskey in shock.

Katie's voice echoed around him like a phantom. It only took him a moment to realize he was hearing the call that had sent her to East Ridge High School in the first place. The machine must have picked up when Parker called and Katie hadn't turned it off. Tom slammed the bottle down on the counter and paid rapt attention.

At the end of it he pressed stop, never hearing the message that had led him to play the tape. His heart raced, jumping into his throat in disbelieving hope. He knew where they'd taken her!

Tom couldn't remember driving there. It felt like he blinked and he was standing at Doug's door pounding on it so hard it sounded like he was trying to break it down. He didn't note the irony that it was again four in the morning and he was on his best friend's door step.

Doug answered the door fully clothed; apparently, Tom wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep. Doug went wide-eyed at the look on Tom's face, fearing the worst.

"I know where she is," Tom breathed barely able to contain his panicked hope. Doug needed no prodding. He grabbed his coat and shoulder holster off a hook by the door and without another word they were gone.


	19. Chapter 17: The Eleventh Hour

**Chapter 17: The Eleventh Hour**

Katie floated in a miasma of nothingness. Nothing mattered anymore, nothing but not telling Raines and Randall about the file. She no longer knew if they questioned her or if she imagined it. She was only semi-conscious. She still felt the pain if they struck her, still knew it was there but she was separated from it. As if she were dreaming and watching what was going on from the outside in.

At first, she'd fought it, refused to talk, willingly allowing the rush of the drug to pull her down into oblivion so she couldn't respond. They'd uncuffed her from the radiator and left her on the floor, recuffing her but knowing there was no way she could attempt escape. Randall had miscalculated the effects of the heroin.

They'd been giving it to her for hours in a last ditch attempt to get her to talk. As soon as she seemed to start to come down off the effects they'd mainline her again. Instead of making her talk she'd dropped into the land of nod, slipping into the alternating awake and not awake but not asleep states that came with having too much in her system. Her arms and legs felt heavy, her breathing and heart beat barely noticeable. Another round like the last five and she'd never wake up.

"She's not talking. Just forget it. Even if she has something on you without her they got nothing," Walker pleaded. He'd tried again to leave and they had refused him. All he wanted to do was get the hell out of Dodge before the police or the FBI found them.

"He's right. Kill her. We have to get out of here. This has taken long enough," Randall said, nervous and pacing. He'd broken down and revealed his own fear. He'd been sure she wouldn't be able to hold on this long. Now their time was out. Randall held out the syringe of poison to Raines. She'd die quietly if they gave her an over dose. Raines shook his head and stood rooted to the spot.

"This was your idea. You want to kill her, you do it," he said in contempt. He had moved beyond wanting Katie dead because she had anything on him, now his hate was turned on Randall. He still didn't want her to live, she knew too much, but Randall could do his own dirty work this time. He was through.

Randall snarled at him but didn't have the patience to argue it with him. He stalked over to Katie's inert form and prepared to drive the last of the heroin into her, ending the threat she presented. A shadow flickered over him from the window and he stopped.

He heard the sound of someone sneaking around outside and motioned for Walker and Raines to follow him. They'd been found. Carefully and silently they left Katie where she lay and hid in the spacious kitchen pantry and waited.

#**#

It took Tom and Doug the better part of three hours to make it to Bear Lake. The large lake sat in the foothills of Eagle Mountain, just north of Hunter's Gulch. It served as a fifteen cabin fishing and hunting resort during the warmer months and a winter getaway during the colder ones. The place was buried in snow.

Below the only exit to the grounds, Fuller waited with Judy and Ioki as back up and an ambulance…just in case. They hadn't wanted to bring more officers in lest Raines and Randall get wind of it and panic. There was a back way out of the resort, but it was probably snowed in, in this weather and because of their limited time and the difficulties involved in reaching the exit they had forgone trying to secure it.

It took another two hours for Tom and Doug to canvas the cabins, stalking like wild animals around them until they could get a good look inside. They'd been over ten of the fifteen cabins and only come across a few people. Two couples, a young pair of newlyweds and an elderly couple here for their anniversary. The rest had been empty.

Where the snow hadn't been cleared it came to their knees, causing them to have to plough their way through the grounds. They crept up on the latest cabin. Someone was here; a car was parked in the path that served as a driveway. Tom and Doug ducked beneath a window and peered in.

Tom flinched in horror. Katie lay cuffed, bloody and beaten, unmoving on the floor. They'd found her but were they already too late? Doug looked sick and anxious as he and Tom stealthy slid the window up and climbed in, guns ready. No one appeared to stop them. Tom scrambled to Katie while Doug checked that the rooms were clear.

Tom rolled Katie's limp form onto her back and checked for a pulse. It was faint but it was there. He could see the tiny pinpricks on her arm where they'd put the needles, the ragged wound where she'd been shot.

Doug came back and knelt beside him his expression dismal and queasy.

"Rooms are clear. Is she…?" Doug asked.

"Not yet. They mainlined her," Tom said shaking his head gently, the back of his hand to his mouth, revolted by what had been done to her. What else had they done? What other atrocities had they committed in the last three days he didn't know about?

He patted her face trying to get her to come around. She didn't respond.

"OD?" Doug asked tense.

"Katie? Katie come on talk to me," Tom pleaded. Her eyelids flickered, sliding halfway open; her pupils were nothing but pinpricks, her iris's normally chocolate brown color faded to a dull bark shade. Her breath came in shallow rasps through lips cracked as sun baked mud, clotted blood filling the creases. Her barely healed bruises from Raines' first attempt on her life hidden by the new batch blooming in vividly grotesque colors, a gash ran along her cheekbone.

"She's floating, she hasn't over dosed yet but she's close," Tom breathed, heartbroken. If this even began to resemble what she'd gone through in Rio. If this had been her reality for nine months, he couldn't imagine how she'd survived it.

"You came," Katie managed to say in a whisper so soft Tom wasn't sure it hadn't just been the sound of her exhaling. Her eyes didn't focus on anything, he didn't know if she saw anything around her. She tried to lift her head and failed.

"I'll always come for you," he said his voice strained by the strangle of emotion that made his throat tight. Beside him, Doug was doing the same thing, sniffling as he shoved wetness away from his eyes with the back of his hand. Katie slipped back into semi-consciousness and Tom hefted her up, looping her cuffed arms around his neck. He could have taken the cuffs off but he couldn't carry her and keep a hand free for his gun if she couldn't hold onto him.

"We have to get her out of here," Tom said to Doug. They started to rise to their feet and felt cold steel press against their scalps, the ominous click of a gun's hammer being cocked.

"How nice of you to join us officers," Randall said. They froze, Tom felt a jolt of cold adrenalin shoot down his spine. They hadn't heard them come on them, they hadn't even realized there was anyone here. Doug had swept the place and found no one. Where had they been hiding?

"Drop your guns and step away," Raines instructed. Walker skittered out of the kitchen and across the room away from them terrified. Neither Tom or Doug dared to try to get off a shot. They'd be dead before they hit the floor.

Carefully, Tom slid Katie's bound arms over his head again. She tightened her arms around his neck instinctively and Randall scoffed.

"How touching," he smirked as Tom lowered Katie back onto the floor gently. If he hadn't had a gun to his head Tom would have killed them both where they stood. For what they'd done to Katie, for the lives they'd cost the kids they were supposed to be charged with saving, for their callus lack of empathy for another human life.

Doug 's lips curled into a snarl of anger at having been caught unaware but he complied. He and Tom dropped their guns on the floor and stepped back away from Katie, hands up to show they were empty.

Randall and Raines came around so they were facing them, guns leveled at them. Raines bent keeping his gun in position and picked up their guns, walking backward and setting them on the table where Randall had prepared the heroin earlier. Tom's gut twisted. Now what did they do? They had no weapons and no way out that wouldn't get one or all of them killed. They had radios on them but they couldn't use them.

"It's over Randall, let her go," Doug said. Randall laughed.

"Oh I don't think it is. Katie wouldn't tell us where the file is. I'm sure you will in exchange for her life…or yours," he taunted. Tom's teeth grated in tense anger. One of them had to come up with a way out of this in a hurry.

"You're going to kill all of us anyway. Why should we tell you?" he asked trying to keep their attention on what they wanted. If they panicked he and Doug would lose the only bargaining piece they had. However, he didn't realize how desperate Randall had gotten or how hurried he really was.

"It was worth a try anyway but my associates and I have to be on our way," he said with a sigh and his finger started to squeeze the trigger. Tom and Doug sucked in a breath not knowing who he'd shoot first.

Raines chose that moment to enact his plan.

"I'm not your associate," Raines said switching his target from Tom and Doug to Randall. Tom and Doug both went wide-eyed in surprise. So did Randall.

"What the hell are you doing Nick?" Randall ridiculed.

"Taking back everything you owe me," Raines said and fired.

All hell broke loose. Randall's last expression as he collapsed to the ground was one of utter disbelief, his mouth formed into a perfect 'O" of surprise. He was dead before his heart had beaten again. Walker bolted and Doug dove after him. Snatching his gun off the table as he went and tossing Tom's back to him.

Tom plucked it out of the air and came around to fire at Raines but Raines shot at him and he had to duck to avoid being hit. By the time he'd regained his footing Raines had the gun on Katie. Tom hesitated, his empty hand out pleadingly.

"Don't do it Raines," he said in entreaty. Raines face was contorted into a demented smile as he hauled Katie up on her feet. She moved mechanically only standing because Randall had her hauled up by one arm. Her head lolled back and she didn't even register what was happening. Tom looked from Katie to Raines. He couldn't take a shot. Even if he got Raines Katie would already be dead. Nick had his gun buried in her side, holding her to him like a shield with his good arm.

Doug was wrestling with Walker. He'd managed to grapple him against the wall and Walker had responded by lashing out, Doug gut punched him, knocking the wind from the scraggly teacher. Walker slid halfway down the wall from the force of it.

Nick backed, keeping Katie between him and Tom, for the door. Tom followed looking for any target on Nick he could hit and spare Katie. There were none. All he could do was keep him in his sights and hope Raines released her at the last second to run.

Doug had forced Walker onto his stomach and had his knee in the wheezing man's back, slapping cuffs on him. Nick edged out the door down the makeshift driveway toward the car parked there. Katie had come around enough to stumble blindly, she was still only semi-conscious but she had her feet under her though she had no sense of what was going on. Still trapped in a drug-induced haze she was nothing more than a zombie shambling along under someone else's command.

Tom's heart had lodged in his throat, fluttering like a caged bird, afraid everything up to this point would have been in vain.

"Let her go. You'll never get away with it," Tom warned, hoping the rogue agent still had sense enough to realize he'd only get away temporarily if at all.

"Yes I will," Raines hissed as he backed.

Time slowed down.

Tom saw it but couldn't move fast enough to stop it.

Nick pulled the trigger at point blank range.

"No!" Tom screamed in anguish and rage.

Nick's shot hit Katie in the stomach and she collapsed in a limp heap.

Nick took his opening and ducked into the car, speeding backward down the drive.

Time sped back up.

Tom sprinted to Katie's side, dropping to his knees beside her. He could see the rapidly growing pool of blood pouring from the wound in her abdomen to puddle around her. Tom stripped his coat off, balling it up and pressing it to the wound to stem the flow of blood. He knew it was probably pointless. A gunshot wound at point blank range to the stomach was usually fatal and very quickly.

"Katie?" Tom pleaded. She had come around part way from the adrenalin released by being shot. She looked up at Tom, trying to speak. She made a strangled noise. It was all Tom could do not to scream in anguish again. He fought the rush of tears that tried to force themselves to the surface, choking on them instead.

Doug came pelting out the door, having secured Walker and stopped dead. Horror stricken he looked between Tom and Katie and Nick pulling out of the drive as fast as he could. There was no way he could catch Raines but made to go after him anyway. Out of rage, out of defeat, he didn't know.

"Let him go! Get the ambulance!" Tom yelled. Doug pulled the radio on his belt loose and radioed to Fuller. Tom could hear the sound of the patrol cars' sirens come on in the distance, the wail of the ambulance as it made its way through the deep snow to them.

Doug scrabbled across the frozen ground to them, joining Tom on his knees beside Katie. He pulled his coat off adding it to Tom's, helping him keep as much pressure as they dared on the open wound.

"Oh Jesus," he muttered. Knowing as well as Tom did that she was probably dying.

Katie choked again, a mouthful of blood slipping over her lips to run down her cheek. She was drowning in her own blood; the ambulance would never make it. Tom slid his free hand under her neck, lifting her halfway into his lap, cradling her head to try and stop the blood filling her throat. She blinked slowly swallowing blood and managed to force words out. She had to tell him, she was the only one who knew.

"Two of the kids are still here, they're alive," she gasped. Tom nodded mournfully unwilling to let her see him cry, but the tears still welled in his eyes unshed. His dark hair falling into his face unnoticed.

Doug said nothing, he couldn't bring himself to speak in what might be their last moments together. Instead, he slipped a key into the cuffs and loosed them, freeing her hands. His chest tightened in sorrow for her and for Tom, sitting there watching her slip away. Her blood seeping through their fingers.

"We'll find them," Tom reassured her and forced himself to smile for her. She managed a faint one in response then choked again violently, her back arching off the ground. Her eyes rolled back and the gurgling stopped as she went limp.

"Katie… Katie?" Tom begged. He got no answer.


	20. Chapter 18: Hanging In The Balance

**Chapter 18: Hanging In The Balance**

Paramedics and the rest of the Jump Street team descended on them in a cacophony of noise. It seemed to take much longer than the five minutes it actually did. Doug got out of the way as a technician took his place. Tom relinquished his own position reluctantly. Stepping back and looking on with a vacant expression.

Raines was long gone, he'd taken the back exit they hadn't been able to get to. Fuller, Judy and Ioki came racing toward them. Judy staggered to a halt and turned her head away in horror at the scene. Ioki stopped to comfort her and Fuller silently laid a hand on Tom's shoulder. He didn't even notice, all he could see was Katie and the paramedics scrambling to get her bleeding under control, to keep her alive. They moved so fast he couldn't tell what they were and weren't doing.

"We got Walker. Randall's dead. They're in the house," Doug said quietly, his jeans and hands were covered in blood. Fuller nodded and motioned his head for Judy and Ioki to fetch him. They went, glad to have a reason not to watch the tragedy playing out in front of them.

One paramedic cornered Doug and asked him what he knew, getting as much information from him as possible about Katie. Doug told them, keeping his voice low enough Tom wouldn't hear him, casting him worried glances every few words.

The paramedics were getting Katie onto a backboard now. Tom heard the noise around him, but it was distant and muffled. The red and blue of the sirens casting an eerie diffuse light over the scene. Doug joined Fuller, resting his hand on Tom's other shoulder but Tom kept looking on as the paramedics dashed about helter skelter trying to get Katie strapped down to the gurney.

"Go," Fuller said softly, sadly. Tom swallowed and nodded almost imperceptibly. He caught stride with the gurney as it passed, pacing it and looking on desperately as the gurney was loaded into the ambulance and the paramedics climbed in. Tom pulled himself up and looked back to see Fuller and Doug watching with drawn faces as the ambulance doors slammed shut.

#**#

Tom sat on a side bench and tried to stay out of the way as two paramedics danced around the gurney. They'd placed a pressure bandage over Katie's stomach, stanching the blood flow as best they could, but it was already soaked through. One had a breathing tube held like spear over Katie's head trying to get it down her throat before she drowned in her own blood. The other looked frantically for a vein to get an IV in. Katie didn't react, she was nothing more than an inanimate body. Tom didn't notice he was covered in his cousin's blood. He barely heard it as the driver radioed the call in. All he could see was her lying there white as the sheets she laid on.

"We got a female law enforcement officer, early to mid twenties with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and right upper arm. Severe blood loss. Multiple blunt traumas. Possible involuntary heroin overdose. ETA ten minutes."

She was all he saw on the trip to the hospital. Engrossed in the fear that nothing the paramedics or doctors could do would make a difference. Beaten and interrogated for three days, jacked up on heroin and then shot at point blank range he couldn't see how they could possibly save her. The paramedics seemed to confirm his thoughts as they called stats back to each other.

"BP's forty over thirty five, respiration's ten, pulse is thready."

"We're gonna lose her."

Tom's heart seized in pain. He wanted to get close enough to hold her hand so she would know he was still there but he didn't dare get in the paramedics way. He jumped, startled when the ambulance doors slammed open as soon as the vehicle came to a stop. The paramedics clambered out with a loud clatter, pulling the gurney with them and Tom trotted to keep up as they passed through the emergency room doors.

A nurse stopped him before he could blindly follow it through the double doors into the trauma unit, gently placing a hand out to stop his progress. Tom could see medical staff converging on the gurney en mass as the doors closed behind them. The nurse smiled gently at Tom and herded him away.

"Come on, let's get you something clean to wear and some coffee maybe?" she asked.

Tom let her led him away, head bowed, his steps heavy, only now noticing that he looked like he had been in some sort of horrible accident himself. Blood covered his pants and shirt, his hands were scarlet with it.

He cleaned up as best he could in the bathroom the nurse led him to. Changing into the set of scrubs she had rounded up and cramming his blood sodden clothes into a plastic bag she'd given him. He felt like he was in a waking dream, none of this seemed real somehow. He'd wake up in a few minutes and find he'd dreamt the whole thing. Katie would still be building the house of cards and she'd laugh at him for falling asleep while they worked. She'd tell him he snored. The last three and a half days would never have happened.

Tom bent over the sink and splashed his face with cold water, looking back at his reflection in the mirror and willing himself to wake up but he didn't. Dimly he went back out into the hallway to find the nurse waiting for him with a cup of coffee. She pressed it into his hand and escorted him to a secluded waiting room. He saw the sign as he passed.

_**Trauma Care**_

_**Waiting Room**_

She left him then to sit alone with his fears, his thoughts, and his prayers. Tom looked at the Styrofoam cup he'd been given, he started to take a sip of the coffee but found he couldn't swallow it. His throat was clinched too tight. He set it on the coffee table stacked high with magazines for families waiting to know if their loved one would live or die. No one else was in the waiting room with him. It seemed that tonight only Katie was the victim of such violence.

At some point, another nurse came in with a clipboard full of papers for him to fill out and sign. He mechanically did it, when he got to the living will he couldn't finish it. He couldn't fill it in and decide what to do if she were so far gone it would be required. He'd been here when Harry had been shot and no one had know if he would live or die, but he'd only had to wait. It hadn't been his job to make life and death decisions. He found the questions it asked of him daunting and terrifying. All he had to do was check one or the other.

□ _**Resuscitate.**_

□ _**Do Not Resuscitate**_

□ _**I wish to be kept alive by any means necessary, including life support and other artificial means if required.**_

□ _**Do not use life support or other artificial means to sustain my life.**_

The options looked back at him, inanimate and uncaring. It wasn't that he didn't know what to check. He knew Katie would want no expense spared to keep her alive. It was the fact he had to make the decision in the first place. It seemed unfathomable that he would end up sitting here holding a single piece of paper that might determine what became of his cousin if the doctor's failed. That as long as Raines was still at large he didn't dare call his Aunt and Uncle to let them know their only daughter was walking in the no man's land between life and death.

He checked what he knew she would want him to, the sharp angle of the checkmark crooked and wobbly because his hand shook while he did it. Then the nurse came and took the clipboard back and Tom waited in deadened silence, staring at some generic painting of a field of flowers on the wall opposite him listening to the rhythmic ticking of a clock nearby.

Minutes or hours could have passed, Tom didn't know but he came back to himself when Doug shook his shoulder. Doug looked tired and worn, his face tight with worry.

"How is she?" he asked. Tom looked at the clock on the wall and seemed to take a moment to recall what was going on. He'd gone vacant and numb shutting everything out before he drove himself into a frenzy of worry. He ran a hand through his hair getting his mind back in order.

"I don't know. They've been working on her for three hours," Tom said in a flat voice. Doug nodded and sat down beside him.

"Mind if I wait with you?" he asked shyly. Tom favored him with a wan half smile and shook his head.

"No, of course not."

"We took Walker down to the station. Woke the DA up in the middle of the night. He's not talking about the kids or where Raines might have gone. He lawyered up on us. Phillips is having fits because I told him Katie said two of the kids are still alive," Doug told him giving Tom the only news he had. Fuller, Judy, Ioki, Doug, Phillips and the DA had all tried to get him to talk but Walker had refused, declaring he wasn't speaking to anyone until he had a lawyer present. They had no chance to weasel information out of him. Tom nodded in understanding and leaned back resting his head on the back of the chair. Doug wasn't even tempted to make some pun about him being dressed in hospital scrubs, he must look like hell.

God, he was tired. He hadn't noticed it before but he felt drained of all his energy. Doug seemed to notice and held out the now cold cup of coffee to him. Tom took it and took a gulp then offered it back to Doug. Doug accepted it and gulped down a mouth full of the bitter cold liquid. Then they sat in silence again, Tom chewing his nails until he'd bitten them to the quick on both hands. Doug flipped through magazines without seeing them, using them as a way to pass time.

Finally a doctor appeared at the door and they were both on their feet.

"Officer Hanson?" the doctor asked quietly. He slipped the protective cap he was wearing off his head and looked pensive. Tom slicked his lips and took a deep breath. The doctor's stance was tense and hesitant.

"How is she?" Tom asked. Doug hovered behind him as anxious as he was. They both held their breath.

"She's in critical condition…" the doctor began to explain. Tom cut him off.

"Is she going to live?"

The doctor half nodded and half shook his head.

"The bullet in her abdomen punctured her stomach , her liver and part of her large intestine. The heroin in her system helped slow down the blood loss because it depressed her nervous system but she was very close to an overdose. She lost a lot of blood. She's sustained a lot of blunt trauma," the doctor explained. Doug spoke before Tom could, unable to listen to him rattle on while they hung on his every word for an answer.

"Get to the point!"

The doctor blinked in surprise but curtailed his lengthy analysis of the situation.

"We've done what we can but it doesn't look good. There's very little chance she will pull through," the doctor said in a hushed voice. Tom's stomach twisted into a knot.

"How little?" he asked.

"Ten maybe fifteen percent."

Doug turned away in dejection, his brow furrowing.

Tom felt his chest tighten and his heart drop to his feet, all the blood drained from his face.

"Did they…was she… did they do anything else to her?" he asked fearfully. Afraid to know the truth, dreading asking. The doctor seemed to catch his meaning and shook his head. Tom nodded in dismal thanks that she had been spared that much at least.

"Can I see her?" he asked in a small voice.

The doctor seemed reluctant to allow it but after a few moments he relented and nodded, leading Tom down the hall to the Intensive Care Unit. Doug stayed where he was sitting down and hanging his head between his knees in sorrow.

#**#

The doctor left Tom at the door of Katie's room. He looked in at her. She had so many wires and tubes running into and out of her if he hadn't known it was her on the bed he wouldn't have been able to tell. An intubation tube was down her throat, another down one side of her nose. Pads linked to wires ran from all over to a central set of monitors mounted on a moveable stand. IV bags of medication hung from all three prongs on the IV stand, running down the line to her arm.

A blanket covered her to her armpits but he knew bruises, stitches, and staples riddled her stomach underneath thick bandages beneath them. Her arm had been wrapped, hiding the jagged gunshot wound. The bruising to her face had gotten worse, leaving her barely recognizable as a human. The heart monitor beeped slowly and ominously.

Tom licked his lips and went in, quietly pulling the lone chair in the room as close to the bed as he could get it and still be able to sit there. He sat down and twined the fingers of both his hands around one of hers. It lay still and cold in his grasp.

Images of the last two times he'd done this with his father, with Amy flashed through his head. He recalled everyone he'd lost or come very close to losing. His father, Captain Jenko, Amy, Harry and now Katie. He couldn't help but think he was going to have to add another Hanson to the list of the fallen.

"Hey," he said. He didn't know if she could hear him but he did it anyway. He fought the tears that sprung to his eyes unbidden.

"You gotta hang in there. You'll make it. I know you will," he encouraged her still form. His voice was as uncertain as he was.

"I'll get Raines, I swear I will," he promised fervently, knowing as he said it that he meant every word. He would get Raines one way or another no matter what it took.

"Don't give up. I love you," he begged, his voice quavering and breaking.

Katie lay there unresponsive and Tom succumbed to his emotions where no one could see him. He loosed one hand and brushed back her dark hair from her face. It only served to make her skin look all the paler with the dark strands lying across her forehead. He sucked in a ragged breath, lowering his forehead to the back of her hand on the sterile hospital bed and cried.


	21. Chapter 19: Under Pressure Of Authority

**Chapter 19: Under Pressure Of Authority**

Sometime later, Tom didn't know how long, he finally pulled himself together and left Katie still and quiet in her room. She hadn't moved, nothing had changed. It was like she was already gone. He'd cried himself out, his head hurt from it, his eyes were red rimmed and swollen, there was no way he could hide the fact that he'd been crying like a child. And a dark heat of conviction burned in his soul.

Doug was standing in the hallway, pacing when Tom came out of Katie's room. He took one look at Tom and bit back the flood of tears he was repressing. Tom stopped in front of him, unable to think of anything to say. He couldn't bring himself to say the myriad of things in his mind. _I'm going to lose her. I feel like someone's ripped my heart out and stomped on it. I can't take losing someone else. I want Raines dead. _He didn't have to, Doug had been his best friend and partner too long not to surmise exactly what he was thinking without him saying a word. He reached out and pulled Tom into a tight hug. They stood there a minute clutching each other, Tom almost sliding into another bout of crying and Doug sniveling in vain to keep his own in check.

That moment of support helped Tom come to grips with the moment and when he stepped back from Doug, he had a much different look in his eyes. A dark flame of absolute resolve burned in his eyes. Doug's tear stained face hardened to match Tom's and he said exactly what Tom was thinking.

"Let's go get the bastard."

#**#

They left the hospital after Tom gave the nurse sitting behind the nurse's station strict instructions to call him if there was any change. They discussed how and what to do as they drove in Doug's truck to Tom's apartment so he could change and shower. To all outward appearances Tom was perfectly calm inside he was anything but, he seethed with the need for justice so strong it threatened to overwhelm him. He'd felt this before when Amy had been murdered, when Ioki had been shot and nearly killed.

Their plan laid out they headed for Police Headquarters.

They found Judy and Ioki in the lobby nursing cups of coffee and looking nearly as haggard as they did. Adam, Spencer Phillips and the District Attorney, a tall, leggy, blonde with a prim blonde bob and a stern visage that killed any attraction she had to the opposite sex, plodded wearily out of a door on the opposite wall where the conference rooms were.

"How is Katie?" Adam asked without preamble.

"She has a ten to fifteen percent chance of surviving," Tom said. It wasn't hard to let the real sorrow he felt slip through, despite the anger fueled resolve that was at the fore front of his emotions right now. It was a good thing the sorrow was evident, otherwise he might have blown their plan before they even got started. Adam might have seen the hatred that lurked in his eyes beneath the anguish.

"Oh God no," Judy gasped and looked like she was going to cry. She had always been soft hearted, it didn't matter that she hadn't become close to Katie. She knew what it would do to Tom. Ioki gave a sharp intake of breath as if someone had punched him in the stomach; he'd been through something similar and barely survived himself. He knew how dire those chances of survival were. Adam's forehead knotted into as many wrinkles as any of them had ever seen. Captain Fuller was a tough old bird. He wouldn't fall apart on anyone anytime soon but his eyes glistened just a little at the news. The DA looked saddened and sorry but she had never even met Katie. It was the sadness of knowing someone who'd served might die. Phillips looked embarrassed and crest fallen. He was a hard ass and maybe an idiot but he wasn't a completely unfeeling hard ass.

"I'm sure you know Walker has lawyered up on us. Two kids still out there somewhere and an agent nearly gone. Son of a bitch," Phillips said. None of them were sure if he was cursing the situation or Walker or both.

"He won't give you anything?" Doug asked.

"Nothing, he says he's afraid even if we catch Raines that he'll kill him somehow," the DA said.

"Don't you think that those kids' lives mean more than what he wants?" Tom voiced starting the first ball in their plan rolling.

"Well of course it does Officer Hanson but there's nothing we can do!" the DA said in frustrated exasperation. She obviously didn't like being reminded about what she already knew and was lamenting.

"Did you offer him a deal?" Doug asked.

"Yes, we did. But he's not biting," Adam admitted wondering what the two of them were getting at already. He knew they were up to something.

"This is when having laws against coercion suck," Tom admitted and flicked a glance at Adam. Adam's eyes widened briefly, as what he was hinting at sunk in. Judy, Phillips and Ioki were giving Tom and Doug shrewd looks, probably thinking along the same lines.

"Yes I admit I'd love to be able to force the information out of him but those laws are in place for a reason," the DA said remorsefully.

Adam took the bait knowing full well what he was doing but then sometimes you had to bend the rules, sometimes the wrong thing was the right thing and if no one was the wiser, well, they couldn't complain later. They had a term for that…plausible deniability.

"Well, I know I'm about to go to sleep standing up. How about we go get a cup of coffee? I see Judy and Ioki found some somewhere," he suggested to the DA and Phillips. Phillips didn't look fooled in the least, he knew what they were planning already. He wouldn't have been an FBI agent if he weren't quick on the up take, even if he was blind to anything outside procedure most of the times. To everyone's utter surprise he fell in with it.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," he agreed. Judy pushed it along.

"We found it in the break room, fresh pot too," she prodded. You had to love the underhanded communication techniques that came from working with a tight knit group of people for years, Tom thought proudly. It was things like this that made them all such a good team.

"I think I could use a cup," the DA assented completely oblivious to the subtext of the conversation. Adam herded them away and through another door to go and find some, and give Tom and Doug time to do whatever it was they had up their sleeves. He had a sneaking feeling he didn't want to know and that someone was going to end up suspended or in front of the review board before this was over.

"What are you doing?" Ioki whispered curious. Tom and Doug sat down across from them and told them their plan. Unexpectedly Judy was on board without a thought, she was usually apprehensive about cutting corners and breaking laws. That's what they were about to do, break the law, purposefully and deliberately with no remorse. Ioki took a little more convincing but appealing to his better nature and to the fact that he'd been in the same boat Katie was in now won out. They had their operatives now it was time to play things out.

They made a show of saying goodbye, then Judy and Ioki left Tom and Doug in the lobby. Ioki with his hand on the small of Judy's back as he walked her to her car. Doug had told them what to do, the fastest way to disable her car that would be quick to fix. Take the distributor cap off.

Tom ambled over to the front desk and asked to use the phone, calling his own apartment so he knew it would ring unanswered. It got him close to where he wanted to be, the security gate to the cells was adjacent to the front desk. Doug feigned interest in the latest stack of notices sitting on the corner nearby, rifling through them with intent interest. No one paid them any attention, exactly as they wanted it to be.

A few minutes later Judy came stomping back in flustered and distraught, Harry trotting in her wake trying to assure her that everything would be all right, they could call a tow truck or a mechanic. It was all an act. She marched up to the counter and laid on her best I'm a helpless woman in distress act.

"Excuse me, my car won't start and I've been here for hours. I just want to go home and sleep. Could you help me?" she asked the officer manning the front desk. He was a rather burly black man with a wide white toothed smile and manners that went with his southern accent. He had to be a transplant.

"I'd love to ma'am but I have to stay at the desk. I can call a tow truck for you," he said responsibly. Judy laid it on a little thicker batting her long lashed eyes at him, innocent as a doe.

"But I've been here so long and I'm so tired. It's bad enough I have to go home to an empty bed, can't I at least go home to it without being any more exhausted?" she complained huffily. That got the officer's attention.

"That's a shame. Pretty lady like you should never have to go home to an empty bed unless she wants to. But I don't really know much about cars ma'am," he said with chagrin. Judy gave him a dazzling smile and reeled him in, it couldn't have been anymore perfect if she'd handed him a script to read from.

"Oh but couldn't you take a look? My partner is impossible with vehicles. His car doesn't even have a horn! I'm sure you'd be able to find the problem," She said propping on the desk and setting her chin in her hand, head canted to one side invitingly. The officer bought it hook line and sinker.

"Well, I guess since nothing's going on I could take a minute to have a look," he said looking around to see if anyone would notice him stepping out, then slipping through the pass through and out the door with Judy hanging on his arm joyfully. Judy could charm the pants off a priest if she wanted to. Harry trotted behind them like a lost puppy. His part was yet to come. Tom and Doug continued their ruses. They would be the last in the plan.

Outside Judy kept up her lamentations over her car, fluttering around it like a spastic butterfly, touching the officer's arms and back to keep him engaged and off center. His attention on her as Ioki's did his part.

Pretending to be embarrassed at his inability to help his partner with her car, he hovered behind them shyly, waiting for the moment when he could grab the key ring off the officer's belt, the keys to the security gates and the cells. He was the only one with enough experience to get it without being caught. He'd done enough pick pocketing in Vietnam as a kid that he was slick as a knife about it. He'd had to be to survive. There hadn't been enough rations and food to go around half the time, good or bad you stole to make it there.

He snaked the ring off the man's utility belt and then suddenly "remembered" he'd forgotten his wallet, hastening back inside to get it. Tom saw him coming, and acted surprised to see him return asking about his wallet. While Tom hung up the phone, giving up on his unanswered call they discussed where it might be and Ioki slipped the key ring to him along the underside of the desk, then wandered off toward the jailer to plead for help in searching for his lost wallet. The jailer had nothing else better to do and agreed readily enough, following after Ioki as they searched for where it might have gone. Ioki knew very well where it had gone, it was in Doug's back pocket. Giving him a perfectly reasonable excuse, if anyone asked he really didn't have it.

As soon as Ioki had the jailer thoroughly occupied Tom and Doug slipped unnoticed through the security gates without making a sound and began looking through the bars for Walker. They found him in a holding cell on the men's side of the jail, huddled on the meager bunk there as if he were afraid of his own shadow. His knees tucked up, his head resting on folded arms as he chewed his finger nails to ribbons. He didn't know it yet but he was about to be afraid of more than his shadow.

Tom motioned for Doug to go on and Doug made his way down the corridor to watch for guards. He'd liked to have watched Tom pry the information out of Walker but someone had to watch his back. There were only two guards and they were having a smoke, it was the middle of their lunch break, chit chatting and generally being absent minded. Doug ensconced himself against a wall out of sight and kept an eye on them while they bantered about financial problems.

Once Doug was out of sight and he didn't come slinking back to warn him off, Tom slipped the key into the lock with a deliberate and loudly audible grating click. Walker's head snapped up and blatant fear filled his eyes at the sight of Tom. Tom had dropped the façade of normalcy and the dark look he leveled at Walker as the door swung open and he stepped inside was foreboding and treacherous. The door slammed shut behind him with an ominous finality.

"Hello Andrew," Tom said, addressing Walker by his first name as he strode toward him with deceptive calm. He no longer had to pretend to be calm, and the fury he felt that Raines was still out there with three lives hanging in the balance boiled up without inhibition.

Walker swallowed in apprehension and scooted further back on his bunk, his eyes never leaving Tom. "I don't have to talk to you, I've asked for a lawyer."

Tom kept advancing one slow threatening step at a time, a demented grin beginning to form on his lips, his gun in his hand toying with it.

"No one knows I'm in here Walker. You don't have a choice."

"I have nothing to say!" Walker wailed, realizing that he had no way out and that Tom did not intend to leave without what he'd come for.

"Is that right?" Tom said softly. He reached forward blindingly and jerked Walker to his feet by his shirt, slamming him against the wall and jacking him up.

"Katie is lying in a hospital bed, probably dying. If she dies, so do you. Where's Raines?" he bit, his voice cold and measuring.

"I don't know!" Walker insisted shrilly. Tom shook him and slid the gun under his chin. Walker struggled in vain.

"Where is he?" Tom pressed, ensuring Walker felt the cold steel of the gun's muzzle against his flesh, the barely contained violence that simmered just beneath the surface.

"I don't know!" Walker said again. Tom cocked the gun and Walker's eyes rolled in his head in terror.

"There are three people's lives hanging on the information you won't give and I'm not going to be as nice as the DA. I'll pull the trigger on you I swear. Now where is he?"

"He'll kill me!" Walker pleaded. Tom snarled and dug the gun in.

"If you don't tell me I'll kill you." Tom threatened and he meant every word.

"No you're a cop you wouldn't do that," Walker insisted unconvincingly. Tom hauled back and hit him with the pistol, leaving a mark to match Katie's along Walker's cheekbone. He blinked at Tom in shock.

"You wanna bet your life on that?" Tom growled. Walker's mouth opened and closed with no sound as he struggled to find something to say.

"I can't tell you, I, I, I," he babbled.

Tom wedged the gun back under Walker's chin, his finger ready to squeeze the trigger. In that brief moment Tom wasn't sure he wouldn't do it, that the threat wasn't just a bluff to get information on where Raines was. Walker had stood by and watched Randall and Raines torture and nearly kill Katie. He'd known they intended to kill her. He'd set them up from the beginning and there was a burning manic voice in the back of his mind that said _"Do it."_

"The docks," Walker whispered.

"When?" Tom asked.

"I don't know. He's got two of the kids held in cargo containers, he can't wait long. He may already be gone," Walker managed to say without devolving into a quivering blob of fear. Tom gave him one last shake of hate, reigning in the crazed desire to shoot him and dropped the man into a heap on the floor, walking out without a glance to see how much damage the blow had done or how Walker fell into a shivering, shaking mass on the cell floor.

#**#

Meanwhile, from his vantage point Doug listened to the two guards drone on in boredom. He yawned despite himself until a thread of their conversation caught his attention.

"Where'd you get the new watch Dave?" one asked the other.

"Oh, that. I did a little something on the side, banked a grand off it too," the other, presumably Dave, said.

"Where'd you get that kinda money outta the blue?" the unnamed guard said, "Not like it's tax season or anything. What'd you do win the lottery?"

"Hell no, lottery's too iffy. Ya know that dark haired girl they brought in a week ago, the one who clocked that big blonde chick?" Dave said.

Doug bit his tongue, he had a horrible feeling he knew what was coming. They'd known someone on the inside had to have gotten the shiv to Big Bertha.

"Yeah, what about her?" the other said suspicion in his voice.

"The guy she got thrown in here for hittin' paid me the grand after he made bail to slip her cellmate a shiv. Ya know, a little eye for an eye. Just one less loser on the street if you ask me," Dave bragged. Doug's temper snapped as soon as he said it. He came careening around the corner puffed up like a grizzly bear., both guards stumbled back when they saw him.

"You aren't supposed to be back here!" one of them exclaimed in surprise. Doug ignored the declaration.

"Which of you is Dave?" he rumbled. The one who'd cried out in shock pointed at his companion, a stoutly built white man with a receding hair line and a hawk nose.

Doug hauled back and hit Dave with all his might, sending the shorter man bouncing off the opposite wall. Then picked him up off his feet and shook him like a rag doll. Dave had been taken by such surprise he hadn't fought back, he just hung there in Doug's gripe in astonishment. The other guard backed out of the way and kept his mouth shut, the only way back into the jail lay past the growling bear of a man that had Dave suspended in the air.

"That dark haired girl you almost got killed is an FBI agent and a friend. She's in the hospital, probably dying, and you took a bribe to have her killed you piece of scum," Doug said and shook the man again. Dave's head whipped back and forth on his neck like wheat stalks in a high wind. If he didn't have whiplash after this was over it would be a miracle.

"Oh my god Dave. Man, you idiot," the other guard said, Doug shot him an angry glare.

"I'm with you man, kick his ass for all I care," the guard said and he clamped his mouth shut again.

"She didn't get killed. She knocked the blonde out!" Dave insisted weakly. Doug hauled him closer until he had the man nose to nose with him.

"Yeah she did no thanks to you, but the guy who bought you that new Rolex got out on bail and damn near killed her. There are kids that might die because of that asshole. You're the loser!" Doug roared at him.

Tom came around the corner then to investigate the commotion.

"What are you doing? You're gonna give us away Doug," Tom warned in hushed tones. Doug pulled the man around like he was displaying a disgusting piece of soiled linen, clipping the guy's head on the wall as he did it. "Opps." He mocked.

"This is the guy who slipped the shiv to Big Bertha," he spat to his partner. Tom's eyes went cold and hard and he fought the urge to hit the guard who was struggling to breathe by now, Doug had him wrenched so far off the floor.

Sure enough, Doug's outburst had blown their secrecy and Adam, Judy, Ioki, the DA, the jailer and the officer who had been manning the front desk came barreling in followed by two other officers.

"What on Earth is going on? Somebody assaulted Walker, I saw it when we passed him, and now you're beating up the guards?" the DA railed looking at the interrupted throttling. Doug shoved Dave forward roughly.

"This is the jerk that Raines paid to slip Katie's cellmate the shiv," he barked.

"I heard him confess!" piped the other guard, disgusted with Dave.

"Officers arrest this man," Captain Fuller said without looking back at them, his eyes were locked on Tom and Doug. He'd been afraid they were about to pull this, now they'd have to deal with the fall out. He hoped it had been worth it.

"You can't just go around dishing out street justice Officer Hanson, I realize you must be upset about your cousin but…," the DA started as the officers came forward and put Dave in cuffs, dragging him away. Tom cut her off.

"Street justice? You haven't seen street justice. That son of a bitch may have killed Katie and there are two kids out there who might be dying because you aren't willing to bend a few rules to get the job done!" he spat. Spencer Phillips interceded.

"Looked more like Walker fell down and hurt himself to me. Officer Penhall was just apprehending a criminal. That's his job isn't Ms. Roberts?" he said addressing the DA who looked dumb struck. All of them had to stop themselves from gapping openly at the FBI agent. He was the last person they would have expected to bail them out of this.

"Fell down? Agent Phillips you know as well as I do Mr. Walker didn't fall down!" Ms. Roberts said.

"I don't know, were there any witnesses? You think he'll tell you how he got hurt?" Captain Fuller said helping Phillips along.

"I didn't see nothing but a cop doin' his job," asserted the unnamed guard firmly on their side.

"You cannot just come in here and do things any way you see fit! There are laws against this!" Ms. Roberts argued flabbergasted.

"Damn the laws, you've got nothing if you don't have evidence or a witness. No one is going to testify against Hanson or Penhall. Not if they have any sense. And to be perfectly honest Ms. Roberts this is a federal case, if anyone is going to do anything about it, it's going to be me," Phillips said sternly.

Tom wasn't sure what to think. First, Phillips had done everything in his power to keep them from finding Katie because he was blind to the obvious and now he was helping them when he knew they'd just blatantly broken the law. The DA couldn't decide what to say to that and stomped out of the jail area in a huff, ranting to herself the entire way about the federal government.

Adam laid a hand on Doug's shoulder and chuckled shaking his head. "I'll never understand how you two always manage to get away with the things you do. Not that I'm condoning what you did and not that there won't still be consequences," the captain admonished. Those consequences would be light in comparison to what they would have been had Phillips not pulled rank. Despite agreeing with Tom and Doug, he knew he'd have to mete out some form of punishment later, he'd make it as painless as he could.

Doug managed a laugh in answer despite still being hopping mad at the guard who'd nearly gotten Katie killed. "Because, even if we're wrong for doing it, whatever it was, was the right thing to do." He said sagely. Adam could only nod in agreement. Tom didn't laugh with them, lacking the touch of humor Doug had managed to dredge up in all this.

"Why'd you just cover our asses?" he asked Spencer Phillips bluntly. Tom and Phillips had never gotten along and this case had only served to cement the fact. He had to wonder what had made him do what he had.

Phillips looked down at the floor briefly, shoving his hands in his pockets before he spoke. "I thought I owed to you, I hope it was worth it."

Tom nodded in weak appreciation of the gesture. It was too little too late, but it was something at least. Tom would have dealt with whatever punishment his actions had caused him without complaint without Phillips intervention. He only wanted Raines brought to justice and the victimized kids found. Katie's fate was in God's hands now. But, he supposed it was the only thing the agent could do now to show he was on their side.

"It was. I know where Raines and the kids are."


	22. Chapter 20: Shot In The Dark

**Chapter 20: Shot In The Dark**

Two hours later Phillips had proven that he did know how to do his job. He'd pulled together a plan to apprehend Raines and the Jump Street team were at the forefront of it. It took one call and the shipping docks were shut down without notice, Raines would be strangely delayed if he tried to hop a ship out of the country with the kids as cargo now. The dock workers had been given specific instructions to use every plausible excuse they could to keep from tipping him off if he was still in the US.

Now all they had to do was mobilize. It would have been preferable if they could cut off all available exits without being noticed but that many uniformed officers would give them away in a heartbeat. Raines might panic and kill the kids and they couldn't risk that so a medical team with two ambulances would be waiting in the wings if they found the kids alive… or one of them took a bullet.

Tom called the hospital to check on Katie only to be pulled further down by the sorrow that weighted on him and the raging need for justice, or revenge, now he was even less certain that it wasn't the latter. Not once the nurse told him Katie had deteriorated further, she was still unconscious and she'd slipped into respiratory arrest, a machine was breathing for her. The doctors had so little hope for her survival they were telling him he might want to come say goodbye.

Goodbye, even if he went that was the one word he couldn't say to her. He'd hold out hope until the bitter end. Katie wouldn't want him to come back and mourn by her bedside when Raines was this close to capture. She'd spent too long trying to get out from under Raines' and Randall's thumbs. She'd spent what might have been her last words to tell him the kids were still alive. He wouldn't let her down. He'd promised.

Tom pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off the tears that stung his eyes, hanging up the phone with a limp wrist. His best efforts didn't stop his partner from hearing his soft sob as he came to tell him it was time to move out. Doug laid a hand on Tom's shoulder.

"Is she…?" he asked unable to finish the question. Tom sniffled and pulled himself together, shaking his head.

"No, but she's getting worse. They don't think she's going to make it. She'd already be gone if they didn't have her on a breathing machine," he said his voice made hoarse by the withheld grief.

"I'm sorry," Doug said his eyes shutting tightly at the news, he didn't know what he could say. Captain Fuller came after them both when they took too long to join the others. He took one look between them and knew things had taken another turn for the worse.

"Katie?" he asked. Doug nodded.

"They don't think she's gonna make it, she's getting worse."

Tom wasn't sure if numbness of his emotions was setting in or if he'd become so engulfed by them he no longer knew what was an emotion and what wasn't. Adam took him by the shoulders and looked down at him seriously.

"Are you sure you can do this?" he asked. Tom looked back at him with eyes that had gone black and feverish.

"Yes," Tom answered.

"You're going through hell right now. No one is going to think less of you if you bow out to be with Katie." Adam assured him.

"I want this guy," Tom said fiercely.

Adam nodded in acceptance. Doug dropped his arm around Tom's shoulders offering his support to his partner and best friend. Together they left headquarters and headed for the docks and Raines.

#**#

Tom and Doug snuck just behind Captain Fuller and Phillips in the darkness of the docks, the wood slats were wet and slick from the snow that had been swept away by diligent employees. Ioki and Judy brought up the rear as they inched their way along behind the clutter of cargo crates and machinery out of sight of the loading platform. Weak, ancient lamp post lights lit their passage , the drip, drip of water, the soft lap of the sea and the creak of moored ships awaiting cargo were the only sounds. Tom's heart thudded in his chest in anticipation, he prayed they were in time and Raines hadn't gotten on a ship before they could stop him. Something in him wanted Raines to run if he was there, so he'd have an excuse to chase him down. He wouldn't go hunting revenge but if it presented itself then so be it.

Fuller motioned for them to stop, then pointed each of them off in different directions to try and surround the loading platform, Tom and Doug split off taking the left path, Ioki and Judy took the right, while Fuller and Phillips kept to their course. They snaked their way to the far side of the loading platform and looked over a cluster of cargo crates. Raines was there!

He was angrily arguing with a dockworker gesturing wildly at a huge cargo container and back toward the water. Obviously, he was not pleased about being delayed. Ioki and Judy were peering over another stack of crates on the opposite side of the platform. Fuller called the warning as he came out of hiding.

"Freeze!"

That started a chaotic chain of events. The kids in the cargo container were still alive and they proclaimed it loudly by beating on the inside of the container's walls screaming, "Help! Help!" Raines swiveled around and saw Fuller. His eyes went wide and he fired in his direction. Fuller and Phillips ducked. It gave Raines a chance to bolt.

Raines' mad dash to get away triggered something primal in Tom's psyche, that predatory instinct to chase down prey. He was up and over the cargo crates in the blink of an eye, pelting after Raines. Doug scrambled to follow, while the rest of the team descended on the cargo container to free the kids who looked gaunt from exhaustion and hunger, shivering like saplings from the cold. Fuller took only a moment to be sure Phillips had things in hand and then ran after Tom and Doug.

Raines knew they were hot on his trail and Tom made no attempt to hide his pursuit as they sped over and around cargo crates and machinery, up and down the rickety stairways that connected each level of the docks. Raines turned and fired at him, Tom narrowly avoided more than one shot as he gave chase. Hiding behind whatever presented itself as a barrier between him and a bullet. They all gave Raines return fire but he managed to duck it. Doug broke off to try and cut off Raines progress, Adam saw him and swerved to take an alternate path to box Raines in.

Raines tripped on a broken step and Tom came up over the top of a crate to fire at him, he had a clear shot but at the last second Raines twisted and shot. Tom didn't have time to get out of the way and the bullet grazed his left arm. He yelled in pain as he hit the ground clutching his arm, gritting his teeth he struggled to his feet and sprinted to catch up.

Doug hit an open area of the dock just as Raines reached it. Tom cut off the last escape route for Raines only a step behind. Adam was struggling through a thicket of wooden pallets to get to them but he could see what was going on. Now Raines was trapped and he was furious and desperate. He leveled his gun at Doug's head.

"Drop your gun. You've got three seconds," Tom warned him cocking his gun. He considered shooting Raines in the back, more to the point in the back of the head. It was very tempting idea, to take revenge here and now. It would be so simple. But no, he wasn't a cold blooded murderer, as much as he wanted to he couldn't. He wasn't like Raines.

"One." Tom said.

"It's over Raines." Doug growled his own gun pointed back at Raines.

"Two" Tom counted.

"It's never over," Raines snarled and squeezed the trigger. Doug ducked the shot. Tom fired, taking Raines in the leg so he hit the ground on his knees. He was trying to do the right thing, to disable not kill.

Raines gave a feral roar and rounded on him. It was over in an instant. Tom fired for center of mass and Raines fell over like a sack of flour. The bullet had gone straight through his heart. Doug peered out from behind the forklift he'd flung himself behind to see if it was safe. Tom stood there gazing down at Raines inert body as the light died in his eyes.

"Now it's over," he said darkly. Doug maneuvered over to his side as Adam came up.

"You got him." Doug said his voice equal parts conviction and relief.

"Yeah, I did." Tom admitted but his voice lacked the triumph it should have. It was over, justice was done, the kids would probably be fine, but it all seemed moot when Katie still might die.

"You did everything you should have," Adam said consolingly.

"Yeah but he was right," Tom said softly.

"How? Looks pretty over to me," Doug said as Judy, Phillips and Ioki joined them. Tom shook his head, his gun hanging forgotten in his hand.

"He said I didn't know Katie anymore. I don't. She's not the same girl I used to know."

"You aren't the same anymore either Hanson. You both grew up. People change. She's still the same person," Ioki said. Tom looked at him sadly.

"Yeah," he said. He had nothing else he could say that didn't make him sound like the world's worst pessimist.


	23. Chapter 21: Out Of The Shadows

**Chapter 21: Out Of The Shadows**

A week passed. The case was wrapped up, though some of the charges being filed still depended on what happened to Katie. Raines and Randall were dead, Walker had a list of charges against him as long as Tom's arm. If she died, his conspiracy to commit murder charge would be upped to accomplice to murder in the first degree. Not to mention the human trafficking charges among other things. Dave, the guard who'd accepted a bribe that nearly got Katie killed, was going to be lucky if all he walked away with was an accessory to attempted murder charge. Big Bertha had attempted murder added to her already lengthy rap sheet. Both kids, a sixteen-year-old boy and a seventeen-year-old girl, had been taken to the same hospital as Katie. Both were ragged and thin from lack of food and enough water but both would be fine. They were already at home with their families, safe and loved. He and Doug had garnered a two-week suspension without pay for their stunt with Walker and the guard. Tom didn't care. Katie remained unchanged.

She was still on a ventilator, her wounds had begun to heal very slowly but she didn't seem to be making any real progress. The doctor's still didn't think she'd make it but a few days more. Tom had called Katie's parents as soon as they'd wrapped up the crime scene at the docks. There was no longer a danger to them and he knew Katie would have wanted them here, that they had to be worried about their daughter. His Uncle Mike and Aunt April were both asleep in the waiting room chairs praying she made it through.

Everyone had been to see her. Even Phillips had sent flowers, though the small bouquet of daisies (Katie hated daisies) with its impersonal "Get well soon" message was drowned by the riot of blooms everyone else had brought. Her parents had brought yellow roses swathed in ribbons. Judy had sent a vase of pink carnations hugged by a stuffed teddy bear. Ioki brought her an enameled pot filled with bamboo stalks for luck and good health. Fuller sent lavender tulips festooned with balloons. Doug, to his credit, never lost his sense of humor. He sent her a bouquet of mixed flowers in a huge smiley face mug accompanied by (and Tom was sure he did it to drive him nuts) a huge pillow shaped like flaming red lips. The parents of the abducted kids had even sent flowers.

Tom had brought a vase stuffed with stargazer lilies, her favorite flowers, and pinned every picture he could think of to the corkboard by the bed. The picture of he and Katie set the center, surrounded by pictures of all the jump street crew and her parents. Newspaper clippings about the case being closed and all the cards that came with the flowers tacked beside them.

Tom was alone in the room with Katie, his left arm in a sling from the shot he'd taken. She responded to no one and nothing. Morosely he sat by her bedside, his hand in hers pleading with her to hang in there. He said anything he could think of no matter how stupid it sounded on the off chance that somehow she heard him.

"Katie please wake up," he begged, squeezing her hand. She squeezed back, it was pitifully weak but he knew he'd felt it. Then she started choking her back arching off the bed and making horrid gurgling sounds, arms pathetically trying to grab something. Alarms went off wailing shrilly. Tom panicked, certain that these were her death throes, that this was the end. He threw himself to the door and screamed.

"Help!"

Medical personnel swarmed over him, his Uncle Mike and Aunt April running up to see what was going on. His aunt took one look and turned with a mournful cry into her husband's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and cried as certain as Tom that they had just lost Katie.

An orderly maneuvered Tom out of the room because as soon as he'd called for assistance he'd frozen in place.

"Mr. Hanson I'm sorry but you'll have to wait outside," the orderly said gently turning back for the room. Tom gripped his arm in a steel fist.

"Can you save her?" he asked desperately. The orderly looked rather surprised.

"What for?" he asked confused. Tom stopped breathing. Dawning lit on the orderly's face.

"She's breathing on her own, she's awake. She doesn't need saving. She just woke up and freaked with the tube down her throat," he assured Tom, seeing the way all the blood drained from his face.

The orderly gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder before dashing back into the room and his work. Tom felt like he was going to faint in relief only to suddenly feel like jumping up and down with a rush of joy. Her parents heard too and he was instantly enveloped in three-way tears of joy-filled hug. Tom smiled so hard it hurt and hugged them back.

The medical staff filtered out of the room after a while. Tom was still locked in a hug with his Aunt and Uncle when the attending physician cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me, is one of you Tommy?" he asked.

"I am," Tom said.

"She's asking for you." The doctor told him, looking back over his shoulder toward the room. Tom looked at his aunt and uncle for permission. She was their daughter, they took precedence. They nodded in happy permission and Tom skittered to Katie's side, while the doctor stayed behind to talk to her parents.

He took her hand still smiling as hard as he could. Her eyes fluttered open and she managed to speak, though it was barely above a whisper and hoarse from the trachea tube that had been in place.

"Tommy?" she rasped.

"Yeah it's me," he told her bubbling over in relief.

"The kids?" she asked, unable to say full sentences and weak as a kitten.

"They're fine, we got there in time," he told her. She sighed, thankful.

"Raines and Randall?" she asked.

"Dead. Raines killed Randall and I ended up killing Raines when he tried to run," Tom supplied.

"Walker?"

"In jail, the guard who slipped your cellmate the shiv is too."

"It's over?" Katie managed.

"It's over Katie. It's finally over," Tom said, leaning over to kiss her forehead.

An odd, coarse, staccato hack came from her in bursts and Tom worried something else had gone wrong. Then he realized what the sound was, she was laughing. Laughing because it was over and she was free. Though he thought it impossible, his smile got bigger and he laughed with her, the ring of it echoing down the hallways of the hospital's intensive care unit.

#**#

_**4 Weeks Later**_

"Why can't I walk out? My legs work fine." Katie complained from her wheelchair as the nurse wheeled her into the hospital lobby. A cane was wedged beside her, the huge pair of lips pillow Doug had given her rested in her lap and she looked disgruntled.

"Because Ms. Hanson, it's hospital protocol." The nurse insisted tolerantly. Katie sighed in resignation.

"Oh fine."

Most of the bruising to her face and arms had faded so her makeup covered it, though the gash on her cheek remained thin and scabbed and her arm was still in a sling. She could walk short distances with the cane but was confined to resting most of the time. It would be months before she was fit for duty again but she was being released to go home.

Her parents were busy in the pickup area outside, trying to find a way to get all the get well gifts she'd received into the car and still leave space for them and her. Tom and Doug were the ones there to greet her. Despite her injuries, she looked lighter and happier than she had since she'd come to town. Tom reached down and gave her a gentle hug. Doug followed his example.

"Hey! Ready to go home?" Tom asked brightly. Katie beamed at him.

"Yes!" she declared.

"How ya feelin'?" Doug asked. Katie favored him with a sardonic lift of her eyebrow.

"Well, for a slab of tenderized meat I feel pretty good. All things considered." She joked, garnering a chuckle from Tom and Doug.

"I'll just be a moment with the paperwork," the nurse said and padded off after it.

"Okay," Tom answered, pushing Katie over to a row of chairs and sitting down. Doug plopped down beside him while they waited.

Tom didn't say anything for a long moment, he just took her in. The light was back in her eyes, it didn't burn as brightly as it used to but it was there. One day it would burn as brightly as it ever had. An easy smile rested on her lips and she looked like the girl in the picture. The one he'd wanted back so badly. Katie noticed him staring and gave him a quizzical look.

"What?" she asked. Tom smiled at her.

"Nothing, I'm just glad to have you back," he answered. She gave him a heartwarming smile in return.

"I see you like the pillow I got you." Doug observed with a wry grin. Katie eyed the pillow.

"Yeah, it's perfect. I'll put it on my bed when I get home and every time I look at it I'll think of you," she said laughing.

"He only got it to provoke me. You know that right?" Tom said. Katie gave him a mock gasp.

"No! Doug would never do that!" she teased.

"No, of course not!" Doug joined in. Tom shook his head and chuckled.

"You're both incorrigible."

"Us? Never," Katie kept up.

"Not possible. We're the picture of innocence," Doug insisted.

"Uh huh. Sure," Tom said looking at his watch.

"What is taking that nurse so long?" he asked no one in particular.

"So what are you going to do now?" Doug asked. Katie shrugged.

"Besides go home and putter around while my mom attempts to stuff me with home cooking and my father tries to get me to watch all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies back to back?" she said jokingly. Tom smiled, this was the Katie he knew so well. Always ready with a joke and a smile. Then he grew serious.

"Are you going to stay with the FBI?" he asked. Katie looked contemplative.

"Maybe, Agent Phillips offered me a position at the field office here if I want it. I might take it," she admitted. Tom made a sound of dissatisfaction.

"Why Katie? Haven't you had enough of the federal government?" he asked. Katie sighed.

"Yes, but this is what I'm trained for. This is what I do. Either I spend my life doing research or I get out there and do something active with it. I helped people Tommy. I liked that. I can't just go back to writing periodicals in medical journals," she explained.

"I still don't like it. Why don't you join the force when you get home? There'd be less risk there," he said. Doug kept quiet and let them hash this out between themselves.

"And do what? Tell them the motivations behind the most recent payphone change slot robber? The FBI is where I can make a real difference. How would you feel if I asked you to give up your job because it put you in danger? There's not going to be another Randall or another Raines," Katie said.

Tom didn't mention that he had been thinking about quitting the force, had thought about it multiple times. He'd become disillusioned with his work, it had changed him in more ways than he liked to think about. But, he understood her reasoning and he'd stand by it, even if he didn't like it. Her life was her own.

"Alright. If that's what you want," he said reluctantly.

"Hey, look at the bright side, then I'll be just a hop, skip and a jump away. I can come to town anytime you want and drive you as crazy as I did when we were kids. Besides it's going to be a while anyway, even after I'm back on my feet," Katie said.

"Why is that?" Doug asked as Tom looked at his watch again.

"Once I'm physically able I'm going back into rehab," Katie told him. Tom winced visibly and Doug looked confused.

"Why? That wasn't your fault. You never wanted to take the heroin. You never did it to yourself," Doug insisted. Katie shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. It's still an addiction. The cravings are never going to go away. This is something I'll have to live with every day for the rest of my life and I'll be damned to hell if I'm going to let it win. So, I'm going back into rehab to make sure it doesn't. I'll get counseling there too, the counseling that didn't help before. Maybe now it will," she explained.

There it was, the invisible scars this had left behind in addition to the physical ones. She'd always bare the marks this mess had left on her. They'd always be there, but maybe now Katie could start to really heal. To start over and move on. Tom and Doug both squeezed her shoulders affectionately.

"Oh don't look so dismal about it. It's over, I'm free. I have my life back. Be happy for me," she said. They both still looked a little depressed.

"Don't make me have to beat you with a pool noodle," Katie threatened showing the unflappable optimism Tom had always seen in her. They laughed. If she could make light of it, then so could they. Life moves on, wounds heal, scars fade and if you're lucky you wake up tomorrow to a brighter day. One day at a time.

"Can I ask you something?" Tom said.

"Sure," Katie answered.

"Why'd you come here with this case? You could have refused it, tried to get out of this nightmare some other way. Even if you didn't think you'd run into me at Jump Street, you knew I'd be here," he asked. Katie gave him a shy smile.

"I don't know. I really didn't think I would run into you. I figured you'd be out patrolling on some beat or out on a case and you'd never know I was here. Maybe some subconscious part of me wanted you to save me, to give me the support no one else could. Maybe it knew you were the only one who could help me. Maybe the little girl who crawled in your bed after watching 'Jaws' just wanted her big brother figure," Katie admitted.

Tom beamed at her. He knew then that she'd heard him in her sleep even if she didn't realize it. She'd needed him and her subconscious had led her right to his doorstep in her darkest hour. He felt warm and fuzzy. For a few beats the scene threatened to turn into a Hallmark moment before Tom broke it, looking down at his watch impatiently.

"Come on! We're going to be late," he complained. Katie's brow furrowed at him and Doug looked pleased with himself suddenly.

"Late for what?" she asked. Tom gave her a sheepish smile and ran his hand through his dark mop of hair.

"Oh, I sort of made a deal with Doug that if we got you back I'd let him date you. I even agreed to make the dinner reservations and if the nurse doesn't hurry up you're going to lose your table," he admitted.

"_Let_ him date me? Didn't we already discuss this?" Katie began, that age-old feud stoked back to life. Tom opened his mouth to retort but the nurse finally came back with the papers and he hopped up to sign them instead.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't someone have consulted me first? I already told him we were just friends," Katie shot at Doug in Tom's place. Doug grinned wickedly but said nothing.

"Doug…," she started accusingly. Doug held his hands up defensively.

"I told him I was sorry for hitting on you. This was his idea," he said truthfully. Katie looked disbelieving but her good nature couldn't be budged right now. She was too happy to be alive. She looked ponderous for a moment before she spoke again.

"Where'd he make the reservations?" she asked. Doug's mischievous grin returned in force.

"Beckman's Steak House on Fifteen Street," Doug answered seeing where this was going.

"How's the food?" She asked.

"Best steaks in town," he answered. Katie nodded sagely.

"He's payin'?" Katie asked.

"Yep," Doug confirmed.

"Think we should tell him we'll never be more than friends?" she asked her eyes cutting to his with as wicked a grin as his own.

They looked at Tom still signing papers, completely unaware that his best friend and his cousin were contemplating taking advantage of him, then back at each other before answering as one with a shake of their heads.

"Nah."

Some things change, some things stay the same. Life goes on. Who said you can never go home again?


End file.
